Pro1x - really poor connectivity to both wifi and cellular.

[rlpowell 6]

I'm noticing that my Pro1X is having a lot more trouble staying connected to T-Mobile than my BB Key2 was.

In particular, I was in a place recently where it kept falling off the network; the icon would show "LTE" and about 1/3 full signal power, but also an X over the signal icon, so not actually on the internet.  It would work for a few minutes, then fail for a few minutes, then work again, over and over.  Rebooting seemed to consistently make it work for a few minutes.

I'm wondering if this is kind of expected or if I should open a support ticket with FxTec.

[david 914]

I read some messages in this thread, but not all.  Have the pro1X wifi problems been resolved by any of the beta firmware?

Based on my very limited testing, it seems like it might have problems with interoperability with some wifi access point hardware/firmware.  In my case, I noticed some oddities with a couple 2.4 GHz access points.  Thankfully my main one seems to work reasonably well.  All my 5.8 GHz access points have horribly weak (unusable) signals at distances that my pro1 worked on fine (and my pro1 is much worse than any other phone I have tested).

Oddly enough, the rebooting when connecting to one of my 2.4GHz access points, which happens with my pro1, does not happen with my pro1x.  I've come across a few access points over the years that cause my pro1 to reboot the instant it connects to them.  My pro1 also reboots when starting a test on the speedtest app on *any* 2.4GHz wifi connection.  The pro1x doesn't do this.

I read speculation in the forums that USA cell issues are difficult for developers in china or the uk to reproduce.  I would hope wifi issues would not be so difficult to see, regardless of location.  The fact that these issues still persist after months of the phone being released is concerning.

Edited July 3, 2023 by david

[jakfish 121]

@rlpowell Hi, where are you located? I have similar troubles in Maryland, USA, TMo.

[AndytheNoob 31]

Hiya folks

At the risk of just being another voice in the choir, I too had dodgy LTE connectivity.

I use EE in the UK and while using the Pro1X people could rarely hear my voice and calls would often be dropped, it got a bit better when I went outside into the back yard.

Yesterday I switched back to my Pro1 and made a couple of tester calls from exactly the same locations in my house as I had experienced problems with the Pro1X and calls were perfect, the people on the other end even immediately remarked on how much better they could hear me.

I've read quite a lot of this thread and it doesn't seem like there's been any forward movement to resolution yet, but I will keep my eyes peeled and send a message to FXtex to see what they say.

[EskeRahn 5,350]

4 hours ago, AndytheNoob said:

Hiya folks

At the risk of just being another voice in the choir, I too had dodgy LTE connectivity.

I use EE in the UK and while using the Pro1X people could rarely hear my voice and calls would often be dropped, it got a bit better when I went outside into the back yard.

Yesterday I switched back to my Pro1 and made a couple of tester calls from exactly the same locations in my house as I had experienced problems with the Pro1X and calls were perfect, the people on the other end even immediately remarked on how much better they could hear me.

I've read quite a lot of this thread and it doesn't seem like there's been any forward movement to resolution yet, but I will keep my eyes peeled and send a message to FXtex to see what they say.

Very interesting (though obviously sad) that you experience the issue in the UK, that might make it easier for FxTec to reproduce. Allow me to suggest you to get in direct contact with FxTec (let me tag @Casey here hoping it will be seen). Maybe your details on location, type of plan with the EE operator or what ever can help them reproduce the bug at a location more handy than the reports from the US. With a little luck they have an employee or associate living close to you.

Them being able to reproduce the bug, is the first step towards any possible fix or improvement! 🤗

[AndytheNoob 31]

11 minutes ago, EskeRahn said:

Very interesting (though obviously sad) that you experience the issue in the UK, that might make it easier for FxTec to reproduce. Allow me to suggest you to get in direct contact with FxTec (let me tag @Casey here hoping it will be seen). Maybe your details on location, type of plan with the EE operator or what ever can help them reproduce the bug at a location more handy than the reports from the US. With a little luck they have an employee or associate living close to you.

Them being able to reproduce the bug, is the first step towards any possible fix or improvement! 🤗

I did contact F(x)tec and got a reply super quick.

Fransisco seems to be the guy that always gets back to me, he's been very helpful so far, selling me a new battery and the very last USB-C module for the Pro1.

Here was the reply:

Hi Andy,
Yes we have reports of some conectivity issues which are being troubleshooted.
I invite you to join the Beta group at : https://community.fxtec.com/topic/3644-pro1-x-beta-test-scheme-for-android-os/ for further talks with developers and other users.

Best Regards,
Francisco 

 

I hope this is helpful to some people and perhaps gives folks some reassurance that work is being done.

[EskeRahn 5,350]

2 minutes ago, AndytheNoob said:

I hope this is helpful to some people and perhaps gives folks some reassurance that work is being done.

I had hoped they would use that you are at the least in he same country to try to reproduce it themselves, and not just rely on the data you can collect for them.

From personal experience, it is just SO much easier to troubleshoot a bug, when you can reproduce it! Not the least the ability to try with/without a suggested change to see if it fixes/improves the issue.

[PoongZY 15]

18 minutes ago, AndytheNoob said:

I did contact F(x)tec and got a reply super quick.

Fransisco seems to be the guy that always gets back to me, he's been very helpful so far, selling me a new battery and the very last USB-C module for the Pro1.

Here was the reply:

Hi Andy,
Yes we have reports of some conectivity issues which are being troubleshooted.
I invite you to join the Beta group at : https://community.fxtec.com/topic/3644-pro1-x-beta-test-scheme-for-android-os/ for further talks with developers and other users.

Best Regards,
Francisco 

 

I hope this is helpful to some people and perhaps gives folks some reassurance that work is being done.

The telegram beta channel is pretty much dead. The last updated beta is like months ago 

Edited June 20, 2023 by PoongZY

[AndytheNoob 31]

6 hours ago, PoongZY said:

The telegram beta channel is pretty much dead. The last updated beta is like months ago 

Hmm, is the silence driven by lack of contribution by the consumers? Or lack of replies by the support team?

I guess I'll find out, I've just bought a pay as you go sim which I'll use for continued testing for a few days.

Not seen telegram before and thought it would be a bit more in depth than it is, it's just a messaging service. I offered to send my phone to them so they could reproduce the fault and do some debugging, Francisco said no, not yet.

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by AndytheNoob

[PoongZY 15]

3 hours ago, AndytheNoob said:

Hmm, is the silence driven by lack of contribution by the consumers? Or lack of replies by the support team?

I guess I'll find out, I've just bought a pay as you go sim which I'll use for continued testing for a few days.

Not seen telegram before and thought it would be a bit more in depth than it is, it's just a messaging service. I offered to send my phone to them so they could reproduce the fault and do some debugging, Francisco said no, not yet.

 

Iack of replies from support. This thread started from August 2022. A debug build / log collecting build had given and some consumer had submitted the log.

There is no update since then. There is no OTA on android security patch too. Looks like the stock android is dead to me.

[ColdCamel 16]

On 6/21/2023 at 1:16 AM, PoongZY said:

There is no update since then. There is no OTA on android security patch too. Looks like the stock android is dead to me.

hey have you seen that in the Beta folder there is a 2.1.7 build put there on June 15th?

Oh, this build has "20230417" in the filename so I don't know if it is something new.

Edited June 27, 2023 by ColdCamel

[ColdCamel 16]

On 6/27/2023 at 2:47 AM, ColdCamel said:

hey have you seen that in the Beta folder there is a 2.1.7 build put there on June 15th?

I tested this 2.1.7 and the connectivity problems seem to be the same, I am going back to testing LineageOS for now and later I will be also testing DivestOS

I know the radios are weak but I just experienced that LineageOS definitely has less calling&audio problems than stock Android

[PoongZY 15]

On 6/27/2023 at 8:47 AM, ColdCamel said:

hey have you seen that in the Beta folder there is a 2.1.7 build put there on June 15th?

Oh, this build has "20230417" in the filename so I don't know if it is something new.

I think 2.1.7 is the 2.1.6 with user debug or medem log. Doesn't fix anything 

Edited June 29, 2023 by PoongZY

[Tim6263 134]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:53 PM, Rob. S. said:

 that isn't actually necessary for the setup to work. 

in my case, it does seem 2B 'necessary' - without a sim in the phone, my Pro1x won't even attempt to make to make calls even though it finds the WiFi router - with a WiFi calling sim in it. 😔 Or is there a settings trick that I am missing pls?

[Rob. S. 1,617]

16 minutes ago, Tim6263 said:

in my case, it does seem 2B 'necessary' - without a sim in the phone, my Pro1x won't even attempt to make to make calls even though it finds the WiFi router - with a WiFi calling sim in it. 😔 Or is there a settings trick that I am missing pls?

That was a slight misunderstanding... The Sim in the phone is definitely necessary, it's still what initiates a call to or from your phone number. The second Sim in the mobile LTE router is also necessary - it just doesn't need to be a secondary Sim for the same contract, from the same provider, like I'm doing it, it can be any Sim that works. 

[Tim6263 134]

5 hours ago, Rob. S. said:

 doesn't need to be a secondary Sim for the same contract

OK, that's kinda the conclusion I'd come to. My prev. provider didn't support VoLTE or VoWifi, so I swtched over w/e, but to get these funcions from the new provider (they're both on O2, UK) I had to go with a 24-month sim contract. As this is a decent price & comes with 30Gb data I reckoned I was OK - but now I have tons of data capacity in the phone when I need it in the router... 🥺

[anonymous1 0]

does anyone know if the 2023 model is 4g compatible?  cause everyone ive seen used has been 3g which is no longer supported

[Rob. S. 1,617]

In principle, it does support 4G, but it doesn't work everywhere.

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Hook
Edited post-merge to prevent circular link ;)

[EskeRahn 5,350]

3 hours ago, Rob. S. said:

In principle, it does support 4G, but it doesn't work everywhere.

For new readers:

Unfortunately we do not even know the conditions where/when it works or not.
(apart from the supported/unsupported bands)

In the US add the problem with some providers requiring model whitelisting, that it might be possible to circumvent with a mule device.

[Tim6263 134]

6 hours ago, anonymous1 said:

does anyone know if the 2023 model is 4g compatible?  cause everyone ive seen used has been 3g which is no longer supported

Depending on your mobile provider, the Pro1x is 4G, VoLTE & VoWiFi compatible. I took a call VoWiFi at work today. But I have mobile service restricted to 3G - otherwise cell connectivity is horrendously unreliable 😪

[Hook 2,834]

I'll be taking my Pro1x, which works great as a phone where I am in the US, with me on a week long trip to Colorado.  Will be very interested to see if anything changes.  If T-Mobile in CO forces me to lower frequency bands, I would expect to have problems.  Will be interesting,

[david 914]

3 hours ago, Hook said:

I'll be taking my Pro1x, which works great as a phone where I am in the US, with me on a week long trip to Colorado.  Will be very interested to see if anything changes.  If T-Mobile in CO forces me to lower frequency bands, I would expect to have problems.  Will be interesting,

I have seen data work on T-mobile with B2, B4, and B12 (and assume voice would work too).  B41 has never worked.  When it is on B41, I need to turn on and off airplane mode to get it to pick another band temporarily.

I did get a new SIM, in case that would help with band 41 (which used to be Sprint, and is also a shared band between LTE and 5G).  It still doesn't work with band 41.

Most places, I am on band 4.  Unfortunately, sometimes, even if band 4 is a stronger signal, T-Mobile will switch to a weaker band 41 signal.

Because we have a Qualcomm modem, the apps for locking/blocking bands don't work.  It would require fxtec giving us that feature, I believe.  That is what some other vendors have done who use Qualcomm chips.

David

 

[Hook 2,834]

50 minutes ago, david said:

I have seen data work on T-mobile with B2, B4, and B12 (and assume voice would work too).  B41 has never worked.  When it is on B41, I need to turn on and off airplane mode to get it to pick another band temporarily.

I did get a new SIM, in case that would help with band 41 (which used to be Sprint, and is also a shared band between LTE and 5G).  It still doesn't work with band 41.

Most places, I am on band 4.  Unfortunately, sometimes, even if band 4 is a stronger signal, T-Mobile will switch to a weaker band 41 signal.

Because we have a Qualcomm modem, the apps for locking/blocking bands don't work.  It would require fxtec giving us that feature, I believe.  That is what some other vendors have done who use Qualcomm chips.

David

 

I believe T-Mobile is now using Band 41 for 5G exclusively these days (I'm no expert, so I could be wrong).  The Pro1x lists Band 41 in the specs, but I'm pretty sure it was Sprint back then so who knows what the Pro1x thinks it is doing when it encounters it.  If you still have 5G in your preferred network type list, try picking a list that doesn't include it (I use LTE/TDSCDMA/CDMA/ExDo/GSM/WCDMA-- admittedly, most of those are useless too, but there is no reason to include NR which is 5G).

My Pro1x here mostly stays on Band 4, occasionally Band 2. 

[david 914]

14 minutes ago, Hook said:

I believe T-Mobile is now using Band 41 for 5G exclusively these days (I'm no expert, so I could be wrong).  The Pro1x lists Band 41 in the specs, but I'm pretty sure it was Sprint back then so who knows what the Pro1x thinks it is doing when it encounters it.  If you still have 5G in your preferred network type list, try picking a list that doesn't include it (I use LTE/TDSCDMA/CDMA/ExDo/GSM/WCDMA-- admittedly, most of those are useless too, but there is no reason to include NR which is 5G).

My Pro1x here mostly stays on Band 4, occasionally Band 2. 

They don't list band 41 on their website, but they use it.  I am hoping the reason they don't list it is because they are going to stop using it for LTE this year.  This thread below discusses it more.  I hope they kill it completely and not just leave 5 MHz of it left.  They may have already killed it off in your area.

I don't have 5G (NR) in my preferred network type list.

 

 

 

[Rob. S. 1,617]

6 hours ago, david said:

Because we have a Qualcomm modem, the apps for locking/blocking bands don't work.  It would require fxtec giving us that feature, I believe.  That is what some other vendors have done who use Qualcomm chips.

That is the first option I'm reading about which actually sounds like it would describe a relatively simple (for a manufacturer) method to substantially alleviate the connectivity issues! I wonder what @Casey might be able to say about it.