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- 05-08-2006, 10:50 PM #1David G. ImberGuest
I know this is going to sound a little strange, and when I
call the technical department they may refuse to take me seriously, so
please hear me out.
For a few weeks now I've been writing about battery issues
with my wife's phone. Long story short, we both had Sanyo 4920's.
Never a moment of trouble. All of a sudden my wife's battery starts
draining suddenly. Not all the time, but seemingly at random. I'd
recharge both phones and everything would be OK for a week or whatever
- batteries would both run down normally. Then I'd recharge again, and
my wife's phone would completely discharge in one day. I bought a new
battery for it, but same thing.
So I bring the phone in for diagnostics, they find nothing. It
happens again once more (note that this pattern started less than
eight weeks ago).
So I get two new phones. Same phones. Charge both, use them at
the same rate, and my wife's discharges completely. Twice. This is not
the phone's fault.
The only clue I got that something might be going on is when I
was recharging it tonight, twice the "entering Sprint area" message
flashed (phone is set to Sprint only).
Question: is it possible that there's something at the Sprint
office that is causing my wife's number to go off-line or something
periodically, and in turn causing the phone to search incessantly for
a signal? That's the only thing that would cause her phone to drain
before mine. We both work from home. The phones sit side by side on
the counter. We both use them about the same amount, which is not a
whole lot.
I'm going to ask SPCS to open a trouble ticket, but as I say,
I'm betting they're either going to know immediately what's happening
or fit me for a tin foil hat.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
DGI
› See More: Is Sprint draining my battery?
- 05-09-2006, 12:00 AM #2David G. ImberGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On Tue, 09 May 2006 00:50:11 -0400, David G. Imber
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Question: is it possible that there's something at the Sprint
>office that is causing my wife's number to go off-line or something
>periodically, and in turn causing the phone to search incessantly for
>a signal?
Update to this:
I opened a trouble ticket on the line, and I'm digging in for
a long struggle. I reprovisioned the phone, but even afterward I
noticed something odd. As I'm holding my wife's phone and mine side by
side (same phone, both brand new), her signal is fluctuating while
mine remains constantly strong. Then she loses signal completely and
immediately gets the "entering Sprint service area" message. This
happens four or five times in succession.
This is definitely something happening at the local office,
and as I wrote in my previous message, it only started happening two
months ago. But to get them to admit there might be something
technically wrong with the number, and not the phone, will be
difficult. I had this happen once, seven years ago, and it took two
dozen long, hard phone calls to get fixed.
Any comments welcome. DGI
- 05-09-2006, 08:18 AM #3Guest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
Guess: Sanyo 4920 is trimode. Is your wifes phone switching to analog
mode which would cause more rapid battery drain? Maybe somethings
wrong on the phone with the digital side such as the antenna?
- 05-09-2006, 10:01 AM #4Bob SmithGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Guess: Sanyo 4920 is trimode. Is your wifes phone switching to analog
> mode which would cause more rapid battery drain? Maybe somethings
> wrong on the phone with the digital side such as the antenna?
That could very well be the problem. David, if you have another local SPCS
store in the vicinity, go down there, explain the problem that her phone is
dropping down to analog, and ask for another diagnostic to be run on her
phone.
Bob
- 05-09-2006, 10:04 AM #5JeremyGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Guess: Sanyo 4920 is trimode. Is your wifes phone switching to analog
> mode which would cause more rapid battery drain? Maybe somethings
> wrong on the phone with the digital side such as the antenna?
>
That's exactly what I was thinking. If the phone roams onto an analog
signal, the battery conservation features that are unique to digital will
not work.
Easy way to test it--
1: Check to see if the phone roams by looking at the display indicator.
2: Set the phone not to roam at all. Then see if the battery drain problem
goes away.
My Samsung phone turns itself off in Analog mode after 15 minutes, and it
comes on for a short while every 15 minutes afterwards to see if there is a
digital signal.
If he is traveling in an analog area, he might want to carry extra batteries
or, if possible, use a 12 volt charger.
- 05-09-2006, 11:15 AM #6AZ NomadGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On Tue, 09 May 2006 00:50:11 -0400, David G Imber <[email protected]> wrote:
> I know this is going to sound a little strange, and when I
>call the technical department they may refuse to take me seriously, so
>please hear me out.
> For a few weeks now I've been writing about battery issues
>with my wife's phone. Long story short, we both had Sanyo 4920's.
>Never a moment of trouble. All of a sudden my wife's battery starts
>draining suddenly. Not all the time, but seemingly at random. I'd
>recharge both phones and everything would be OK for a week or whatever
>- batteries would both run down normally. Then I'd recharge again, and
>my wife's phone would completely discharge in one day. I bought a new
>battery for it, but same thing.
> So I bring the phone in for diagnostics, they find nothing. It
>happens again once more (note that this pattern started less than
>eight weeks ago).
> So I get two new phones. Same phones. Charge both, use them at
>the same rate, and my wife's discharges completely. Twice. This is not
>the phone's fault.
> The only clue I got that something might be going on is when I
>was recharging it tonight, twice the "entering Sprint area" message
>flashed (phone is set to Sprint only).
Carry both for a day to the same locations and see if her's discharges
faster.
Hint: higher power levels are used when farther from a cell tower.
Your wife's workplace or somewhere else she spends time may be in
a fringe area.
- 05-09-2006, 11:17 AM #7AZ NomadGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On Tue, 09 May 2006 16:04:58 GMT, Jeremy <[email protected]> wrote:
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Guess: Sanyo 4920 is trimode. Is your wifes phone switching to analog
>> mode which would cause more rapid battery drain? Maybe somethings
>> wrong on the phone with the digital side such as the antenna?
>>
>That's exactly what I was thinking. If the phone roams onto an analog
>signal, the battery conservation features that are unique to digital will
>not work.
It doesn't have to roam to analog. All it has to do is be in a fringe
area where it is searching for a signal.
I used to work in an office where the back 3/4's didn't have any
coverage. My phone would run down in two days where it would have
5 days charge elsewhere.
- 05-09-2006, 01:51 PM #8David G. ImberGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On 9 May 2006 07:18:18 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>Guess: Sanyo 4920 is trimode. Is your wifes phone switching to analog
Our phones are always set to "SPCS only".
This happened with the 4920 and with the new 8300's
It's not the phone.
Thanks, DGI
>mode which would cause more rapid battery drain? Maybe somethings
>wrong on the phone with the digital side such as the antenna?
- 05-09-2006, 01:54 PM #9David G. ImberGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On Tue, 09 May 2006 16:01:47 GMT, "Bob Smith"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
><[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Guess: Sanyo 4920 is trimode. Is your wifes phone switching to analog
>> mode which would cause more rapid battery drain? Maybe somethings
>> wrong on the phone with the digital side such as the antenna?
>
>That could very well be the problem. David, if you have another local SPCS
>store in the vicinity, go down there, explain the problem that her phone is
>dropping down to analog,
Thanks, Bob, but the phone's not dropping to analog, it's
suddenly losing signal altogether. I suspect this is what was
happening with the previous 4920, and is now happening with the 8300.
Both phones were checked, but I almost didn't need that. The 4920 was
operating flawlessly for two years, prior to the past two months,
during which this has occurred.
It's not the phone. I have a trouble ticket in on the number.
I'm dead sure it's something happening out of the office. In fact when
SPCS called her number this morning to report on the trouble ticket,
the call went right to mail. This number is having problems.
Thanks! DGI
- 05-09-2006, 02:09 PM #10David G. ImberGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On Tue, 09 May 2006 17:15:43 GMT, AZ Nomad <[email protected]>
wrote:
>> The only clue I got that something might be going on is when I
>>was recharging it tonight, twice the "entering Sprint area" message
>>flashed (phone is set to Sprint only).
>
>Carry both for a day to the same locations and see if her's discharges
>faster.
>
>Hint: higher power levels are used when farther from a cell tower.
>Your wife's workplace or somewhere else she spends time may be in
>a fringe area.
In addition to having diagnostics done on the phone this
morning (100% OK), I did in fact do some checking along the lines you
describe.
(I'm so frustrated by this I'm checking it from every angle I
can possibly think of).
Carrying the phone to different locations today and checking
it alongside mine I noted that the behavior of both phones was exactly
the same.
So the problem is with THIS number, here in my HOME. What that
means in technical terms I just have no idea. For some reason the
signal that emanates from the office where my wife's number is held
has trouble reaching my home. Not true of my number, which is
completely consistent. And in fact this has only been happening for
two months.
Something like this happened seven years ago, if you don't
mind a longish story:
I had just gotten a new Nokia 6185 and it worked brilliantly,
except that the caller ID always said "Caller Unknown". I called SPCS
and asked about it and they insisted I needed a new phone. I fought
with them because it just didn't make any sense. I'm not an engineer,
but the notion that everything about the handset working perfectly
except the caller ID was a *handset* problem seemed ludicrous on its
face. I argued with them to check it out, and just kept at them
through at least six escalations. I finally got some guy out in an
Arizona office who was apparently a technical division higher-up. He
agreed that it made no sense to check the handset and promised to look
into it. A day later he called back to say that there had been a fire
at the office where my number was carried, and that a bunch of numbers
were taken off the main servers and put on provisional servers housed
elsewhere. Those servers weren't capable of handling the demands of
Caller ID. After the fire was cleaned up, they were supposed to put
all of the numbers back on the main servers, but they plum forgot
about mine. He promised he'd take care of it immediately, and within
24 hours I had caller ID on every applicable call - and have for seven
years since.
But they'll tell you it's a faulty handset with 100%
conviction until they can no longer get away with it.
Thanks for your advice. DGI
- 05-09-2006, 03:21 PM #11John R. CopelandGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
"David G. Imber" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
>
>
>
> It's not the phone. I have a trouble ticket in on the number.
> I'm dead sure it's something happening out of the office. In fact when
> SPCS called her number this morning to report on the trouble ticket,
> the call went right to mail. This number is having problems.
>
> Thanks! DGI
>
David, if you're able to find the diagnostic screen
(often involves the code 040793 in some fashion)
it would be interesting to know if your wife's phone and yours show
different cell identification numbers while they're behaving differently.
Someone here said a long time ago that in heavy-usage areas,
Sprint adds multiple cells with overlapping coverage to the same towers,
and arbitrarily splits phones among the overlapped equipment.
If your wife's cell is having trouble, your trouble ticket may get results.
- 05-09-2006, 08:48 PM #12David G. ImberGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
On Tue, 09 May 2006 21:21:31 GMT, "John R. Copeland"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>David, if you're able to find the diagnostic screen
>(often involves the code 040793 in some fashion)
>it would be interesting to know if your wife's phone and yours show
>different cell identification numbers while they're behaving differently.
>
>Someone here said a long time ago that in heavy-usage areas,
>Sprint adds multiple cells with overlapping coverage to the same towers,
>and arbitrarily splits phones among the overlapped equipment.
>If your wife's cell is having trouble, your trouble ticket may get results.
I haven't tried accessing the diagnostics myself on this
because, frankly, I can't even pretend to have a grasp of how that
works. But what you said may make a lot of sense.
Sure enough, when Sprint Technical got back to me tonight he
insisted it was the handset. I told him that I had diagnostics done
just today, but his system hadn't been updated to show that. He wants
me to go back (again...another two hour ordeal) to the Sprint store
tomorrow and have them do diagnostics again so they can access the
information.
He said that there was no way, if both phones are at the same
location, that one can be getting an essentially different signal from
the other. I don't believe this is true. The two phone numbers may be
carried on servers in buildings five or more miles apart. Sure the
same tower may be feeding both phones, but what I'm questioning is
what they're being fed.
It's simply too coincidental that out of four phones, two with
the same number would have exactly the same defect, one developing it
after two years and the other one coming new with it.
I will go to the store tomorrow, but I'll level with the
manager and ask him to simply swap it with another new handset. I
think he has the discretion to do that as they're only a few days old.
I asked the tech what happens if I get yet another handset and
the same thing happens, but he had no real answer ("uhh..then we'll
have to look into it further". So why can't they "look into 'it'
further now?)
Anyway, thanks for the input! DGI
- 05-10-2006, 08:56 AM #13Isaiah BeardGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
David G. Imber wrote:
> On Tue, 09 May 2006 21:21:31 GMT, "John R. Copeland"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
t what you said may make a lot of sense.
>
> Sure enough, when Sprint Technical got back to me tonight he
> insisted it was the handset. I told him that I had diagnostics done
> just today, but his system hadn't been updated to show that. He wants
> me to go back (again...another two hour ordeal) to the Sprint store
> tomorrow and have them do diagnostics again so they can access the
> information.
David,
This might sound a bit wacky, but, this PROBLEM sounds wacky. And my
idea might answer this question once and for all.
When you're getting the diagnsotics done at the store, ask the tech to
*switch* the ESNs on the account. In other words, have him swap YOUR
ESN to HER number, and HER ESN to YOUR number.
Then, take the phones home and see how the handsets compare. If she's
still having problems with YOUR phone, then it's clear that somehow, the
account provisioning is to blame. If YOU are now having reception
problems with what was HER phone, then your wife has simply had
incredibly bad luck with equipment and it IS the handset that is bad.
--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
- 05-10-2006, 09:03 AM #14Isaiah BeardGuest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
David G. Imber wrote:
> So the problem is with THIS number, here in my HOME. What that
> means in technical terms I just have no idea.
David,
Does your phone number and your wife's number have the same area code
and exchange? In other words do the first six digits match?
If not, there is a SLIGHT possibility that the two numbers are being
served out of difference mobile telephone switching offices (MTSO for
short). In theory, this shouldn't cause any signal problems at all, but
I can see a situation where, in practice, a more distant office might
prefer to keep your wife's phone on a cell station local to it and more
distant to you, rather than constantly route calls to a closer MTSO.
If you're willing to post here or e-mail to me the area codes and first
three digits of the two phone numbers (if they don't match), I can look
up their switch assignments.
Also, have these numbers been ported from another carrier, or were these
numbers always activated on Sprint?
--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
- 05-10-2006, 12:22 PM #15Guest
Re: Is Sprint draining my battery?
It sounds like Sprint grew it's capacity, in doing so your wifes phone
began "hashing" to the new frequency, perhaps even on the same tower,
where the RF environment is different - possibly worse. Therefore the
two phones act differently. This has nothing to do with the phone
itself, but rather the phone number which the network uses to tell the
phone to use one frequency or another. Don't bother asking a
salesperson to explain this, they won't know. If you swap numbers with
your wife, then your phone should begin working like hers is. Since
it's a random feature you may have to ask for a couple of different
numbers before you get one that works on the "good" carrier.
Good Luck.
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