Pro1x - really poor connectivity to both wifi and cellular.

[claude0001 1,271]

43 minutes ago, Casey said:

What's your ticket ID? I'd like to follow up with this.

@Casey, please do not assume that only people opening tickets are affected by the connectivity problems.

I think many of us (including myself) regard this as a general problem of the device that will be fixed in an upcoming software/firmware update. These hopes are based on last year's October and December updates, where you acknowledged poor signal and connection drops as one of the most notable bugs of the stock Android ROM, and wrote you were preparing an update to fix this.

Assuming the problem is already being worked on, I thought it would not be helpful to open yet another ticket on this. Am I wrong?

Edited January 13, 2023 by claude0001

[Casey 316]

48 minutes ago, claude0001 said:

please do not assume that only people opening tickets are affected by the connectivity problems.

I am not assuming anything. Believe me, I know the scale of this issue. I follow all the platforms where Fxtec is on, and I know it's a wide-spread problem.

The reason I asked for this particular ticket is because the demonstration video attached can be of use for the developers to troubleshoot.

And yes, it is our top priority issue along with the battery protection. Also, thank you for not sending us a ticket regarding a known issue, it does help us speed things up.

[Doktor Oswaldo 901]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

I am not assuming anything. Believe me, I know the scale of this issue. I follow all the platforms where Fxtec is on, and I know it's a wide-spread problem.

The reason I asked for this particular ticket is because the demonstration video attached can be of use for the developers to troubleshoot.

And yes, it is our top priority issue along with the battery protection. Also, thank you for not sending us a ticket regarding a known issue, it does help us speed things up.

If that helps, feel free to provide us a list (here or in the discord) with things that would help you.
I mean we could also deliver logs and stuff. But I guess since it is common, you can reproduce it yourself?

[Casey 316]

44 minutes ago, Doktor Oswaldo said:

But I guess since it is common, you can reproduce it yourself

It's very hard to reproduce on our side (UK/China), all RMA'd devices we receive have no problems with our SIM... The cell connectivity/GPS appears to be more based in the US region.

45 minutes ago, Doktor Oswaldo said:

I mean we could also deliver logs and stuff

Yes, this would be very helpful to us. Feel free to send it via email and we'll relay this back to the team for further investigation. 

[VaZso 1,997]

44 minutes ago, Casey said:

It's very hard to reproduce on our side (UK/China), all RMA'd devices we receive have no problems with our SIM... The cell connectivity/GPS appears to be more based in the US region.

I have a Pro1 as daily driver but I have also received my Pro1X as an IGG backer.
When I have tried Pro1X, I also had issues initiating call and also accepting call - sometimes it worked but mostly does not.

I am in the EU / Hungary and tested using Telekom service provider - I may also test is using another service provider but I have also thought it is a very common problem as I read a lot about it here.

So it is not limited to US region but also happen in Europe, maybe related to specific bands.

[Doktor Oswaldo 901]

1 hour ago, Casey said:

It's very hard to reproduce on our side (UK/China), all RMA'd devices we receive have no problems with our SIM... The cell connectivity/GPS appears to be more based in the US region.

Interesting, I am based in Switzerland and aren't reachable per call a lot of times. Also building up a Call takes up to 20 seconds at least sometimes. So it doesn't seem to be a pure US thing.

I am pretty certain we use the EU frequencies.

I will have a look into logging on android.

[Rasva 24]

I guess it would also help to install some monitoring app like LTE Discovery and report observations. "LTE connectivity is bad" is too general statement. In my case (and I also reported it on Telegram channel):

I am in area where the Pro1x mostly uses LTE channels B3, B9 and B20. B9 and B20 are quite OK to signal level around -110dBm, but B3 is a disaster, even at level -85dBm.

Now the example problem is: In the area I have available B20 with -90dBm and B3 with -85dBm and of course Pro1x chooses the one with apparently stronger signal (B3). As a quick fix it would help to force modem to (not) use specific channels. I know this is doable on Mediatek chipsets but I do not know how is it with Qualcomm.

You can also observe quality of connection if you start continuous ping to some server and watch timeouts (should be none).

Another thing I observed that in case I see connection problems (ping timeouts) on channels B9 and B20 at level above -110dBm, that if above monitoring app is running on the background, the ping timeouts disappear. So forcing the modem to not go to sleep also helps. Someone on Telegram channel suggested what it means and what should be changed in modem firmware.

[Tim6263 134]

1 hour ago, Rasva said:

So forcing the modem to not go to sleep also helps.

From all the numbers you are quoting you seem to be way more tech knowledgeable than me, but, would not doing this cause significant battery drain? Do other phones have to do this? And if not, why should this be necessary for the Pro 1X?

[Rasva 24]

 

Quote

Do other phones have to do this?

I don't think so, at least I've never met this problem before. There is something wrong with Pro1x and I really hope it is not the antenna or other hardware (and therefore not fixable) issue.

Quote

Battery drain?

Sure, but not necessarily a disaster.

[Tim6263 134]

39 minutes ago, Rasva said:

I really hope it is not the antenna or other hardware (and therefore not fixable) issue.

Amen to that, I've waited 3yrs to get this phone .. to find out it can't do the basic phone function 😔

But I have joined a Beta testing group in the hope that I can help move this along to a workable solution...

Edited January 13, 2023 by Tim6263
Additional remarks

[doubleddav 34]

16 hours ago, Casey said:

What's your ticket ID? I'd like to follow up with this. Thanks.

Happy to provide, should I post it here or send some other way?

The video probably won't say a lot, is there a way of gathering logs on the device that might help as well? Also would the logs have information in them, such as phone numbers etc?

[doubleddav 34]

9 hours ago, Rasva said:

I guess it would also help to install some monitoring app like LTE Discovery and report observations. "LTE connectivity is bad" is too general statement. In my case (and I also reported it on Telegram channel):

I am in area where the Pro1x mostly uses LTE channels B3, B9 and B20. B9 and B20 are quite OK to signal level around -110dBm, but B3 is a disaster, even at level -85dBm.

Now the example problem is: In the area I have available B20 with -90dBm and B3 with -85dBm and of course Pro1x chooses the one with apparently stronger signal (B3). As a quick fix it would help to force modem to (not) use specific channels. I know this is doable on Mediatek chipsets but I do not know how is it with Qualcomm.

You can also observe quality of connection if you start continuous ping to some server and watch timeouts (should be none).

Another thing I observed that in case I see connection problems (ping timeouts) on channels B9 and B20 at level above -110dBm, that if above monitoring app is running on the background, the ping timeouts disappear. So forcing the modem to not go to sleep also helps. Someone on Telegram channel suggested what it means and what should be changed in modem firmware.

I've done ping tests when tethered to my phone. I find timeouts at apparently random intervals for periods of a few seconds up to several minutes and I have to reboot the phone.

[Rasva 24]

Update to my post above. Today I "found" LTE channel B1 at 2160 MHz. At signal level -108dBm (and later even -114dBm) I had stable ping with 0% loss which is very nice. Also interesting thing (at least for me): in that area there was also channel B20 (796MHz) with much better signal (-80dBm), but Pro1x was preferring B1.

[Rob. S. 1,634]

For some weeks, as a workaround for the bad LTE connectivity, I've been carrying a sensibly small and light mobile LTE router (TP-Link M3750) fitted with a second SIM card from my mobile provider, taking from the same data quota that the phone itself would use. For the time being, this workaround provides good internet access when I'm not at home, also while driving in my car, for both the phone and the devices for which I would otherwise use the phone as an access point like my laptop.

(Too bad that while it takes a Micro SD card, too, this is limited to 32 GB; otherwise I could store my complete music archive there which doesn't fit into the phone anymore after I decided to put a second provider's SIM card in it instead of a big memory card...)  

I don't know, though, whether this setup could also be a replacement for the faulty VoLTE, which I suppose would at least require WiFi calling (VoWiFi) which my provider doesn't offer, so I can't try it out myself.

EDIT: Seems my provider does support VoWiFi after all, and it does work, too (limited the phone's networks to LTE, disabled VoLTE, disabled mobile data, called my landline number, got a connection, switched off the mobile router, connection was lost).

Edited January 19, 2023 by Rob. S.

[FlyingAntero 825]

I have been reading all reports in this thread and issues seems to be mostly related to LTE network. However, there are also reports that some users cannot make calls in GSM network either (or especially receive calls). If LTE is disabled and 3G is available then there are no issues reported.

@Rasvahas reported that Pro1-X has issues with LTE band 3 which is 1800Mhz. 1800Mhz is also very common in a GSM network. There are lot of issues reported from US. 1800Mhz is not used there but band 2 1900Mhz and band 4 1700Mhz are very common in US. Also, 1900Mhz GSM is used in North America.

What if Pro1-X has issue with frequencies in range of about 1700-2000Mhz? That could explain many issues. In EU there is still 3G available so if LTE fails then 3G can provide data, since mostly 900Mhz and 2100Mhz are used in 3G network. But in the US you do not have 3G everywhere so you have to go with GSM (probably 1900Mhz).

Also, in EU LTE band 20 800Mhz is very common so maybe that (and 3G) explains why there are less reports from EU. Sure, there are some issues reported with frequencies out of 1700-2000Mhz range also but to me that seems to be different issue/bug. People seems to report small drops (ping timeouts) but as @Rasvareported it can fixed by keeping radio active via monitoring app. No data/connection at all issue seems to be related to 1700-2000Mhz.

So maybe we have two different issues? Just my 2 cents.

1. Issues with 1700-2000Mhz frequencies (no data/connection at all, bad signal)?

2. Issues with LTE when radio goes sleep (small connection drops, firmware bug)?

 

US:

UK:

Germany:

 

Test

[claude0001 1,271]

1 hour ago, FlyingAntero said:

In EU there is still 3G available so if LTE fails then 3G can provide data

I'm in the EU (Germany), no 3G here anymore, just GSM and LTE. Pro1-X connects only in some specific "islands", cannot be regarded as a portable device, really.

[FlyingAntero 825]

5 hours ago, claude0001 said:

I'm in the EU (Germany), no 3G here anymore, just GSM and LTE. Pro1-X connects only in some specific "islands", cannot be regarded as a portable device, really.

Yeah, I was too general with my statement. Some countries have shut down 3G in EU but in many countries it is still available. In Finland, 3G is available to the end this year since operators started to shut down 3G just recently.

Your situation highlights my theory, since you do not have 3G and maybe LTE band 3 (1800Mhz) is used in your area? So you could have same situation than in the US.

I might be wrong though...

[claude0001 1,271]

The 1.8 GHz band is certainly important in Germany. According to this Wikipedia page, my carrier (O2) is using it for LTE and GSM.

Interestingly, up to now I've never been able to initiate or receive a GSM call (i.e. with VoLTE disabled), even in one of those lucky spots where LTE (and VoLTE) works.

Is there any app that can display what frequency bands are being used by the modem in real time?

Edited February 1, 2023 by claude0001

[EskeRahn 5,399]

3 hours ago, claude0001 said:

Is there any app that can display what frequency bands are being used by the modem in real time?

...Or even better if it could log what is used and when any switches occurs. That info could certainly help in confirming (or disproving) the interesting theory of @FlyingAntero

We know that at the least some antennas were redesigned for the Pro1X, so it could make sense if that have affected different bands in different ways. And if we are lucky they can turn the power up on specific antennas and still stay within what they are legally allowed to.

[Hook 2,907]

@Caseymight want to make a note of this theory and see if they have any data or a way to look into it.

[claude0001 1,271]

4 hours ago, claude0001 said:

Is there any app that can display what frequency bands are being used by the modem in real time?

Re-reading this thread, I found that in one of their posts, @Rasva suggested an app named "LTE Discovery" that seems to do exactly that. I'll try it once I'm back with the prawn-X.

[belletrist 56]

8 hours ago, claude0001 said:

Re-reading this thread, I found that in one of their posts, @Rasva suggested an app named "LTE Discovery" that seems to do exactly that. I'll try it once I'm back with the prawn-X.

I'm currently doing this on Sailfish with Cellmon in Australia.

One thing I have noticed is that I'm seeing a swap between 4G and 3G which IIRC I wasn't without Cellmon, It stayed purely on 4G or nothing. I'll test that later.

[Rasva 24]

Yes, LTE discovery does +/- this, you have to enable overlay, so it shows you signal level over the other apps. But in free version the overlay will not show channel number, only signal level and operator name. For the channel number you will have to go to the app itself.

Also another problem - this app does not work under Lineage, at least for me. It says "no active cells detected"

[FlyingAntero 825]

On 9/11/2022 at 9:49 PM, Adamyno said:

I have a very similar problem at home with my current Xiaomi device. But only at home. It works fine anywhere else. I will be curious if you try it elsewhere several times, then what will be the result. Regardless, I would try to turn on VoLTE.

BTW, interesting that you mentioned Xiaomi since several people have reported exactly same issues on their Xiaomi devices in my country. Some user sent their phones to the warranty service but no luck even after changing the board. Temporary fix was to reboot device or use air plane mode for a while. But now people are reporting that leaving 5G out of preferred network type selection have fixed the issue for good. (If I have understand correctly 5G NSA uses LTE for sending data)

Probably this has nothing to do with Pro1-X but might be still good to leave 5G out of preferred network type selection (even so that Pro1-X is not 5G device). It may not fix all issues but might help the situation.

Edited February 2, 2023 by FlyingAntero

[PoongZY 15]

LTE discovery showing my connection is switching LTE band like crazy