[glowrider]

So, I upgraded my SE P900 to a Treo 650 yesterday and as soon as I get it home, no signal. My P900 with TMO received perfect signal here and even my Cingular RAZR receives half decent service. I tried swapping the chips all around, they're fine. Sure, I'm on the 32nd floor of a building, but if it works in the P900 and RAZR, surely it should also work in the latest, greatest phone right?

So, I've narrowed it down that the RF on the phone stinks, even on the street in places where I used to receive TMO service (and still do with another phone), the 650 doesn't have it.

Needless to say, this is very frustrating. I noticed someone else had this problem, but there were no replies to that thread. Does anyone else's phone have terrible RF compared to their others? Is there a fix? I'm planning on having my dealer replace the phone, but if it is just a flawed design on all the phones, I don't want to waste my time. Thanks.

[Lubos]

I have also noticed that my 650 GSM has a very poor RF reception. The static reception (not moving in the car) is rather OK but as soon I get into the car then dynamic RF reception problem is really visible. I think Treo has a serious problems when it needs to register to another cell (BTS) as it tries to do it when it is too late (signal drops to zero and only after that Treo registers to a new cell). The result is that during my usual 3 hour journey I cannot hear the party on the other end quite frequently or the phone call drops all the time. I had many phones before (Ericsson/Nokia 6110/6130/6230/...) but I've NEVER had such a serious problems with the reception as Treo has.

As the phone it is a piece of crap so I am thinking going back to my N6230 (+I'll buy a new Lifedrive) even I LOVE Treo as a PDA... :-(((

[glowrider]

im having them replace the phone, but im not holding my breath that that will solve anything...

[fl00d_pr0z]

I assume that's just a GSM problem ? I haven't heard anything about bad RF in the CDMA version.

[petemeister]

I am on my second unlocked 650. So far both have horrible RF compared to my P900, ST-5600 and especially my Treo 600. I went back to the 600 during the 650 swap period and loved the volume, call quality, stability etc. If my company supported the ST-5600 (we use Intellisync for Palm only), I would have dumped my treo 650 weeks ago.

Question: Are you experiencing continuous resets and lock-ups like me? Palm is forcing me to go back to two devices.

[glowrider]

I didn't have enough time to see any resets or lockups...Does the 600 just suck compared to the 650? I really like BT, so that is a huge missing item. But the rf of the 650 is just unacceptable, and I'm in NYC.

[temna]

Hey, if you want to sell the unlocked Treo 650 let me know. temna@comcast.net

I'm serious, I'll take your Treo off your hands. Just email me and we can work it out.

[codywalker]

I'll agree. I've lived in the same house for 10 years, I've had every phone imaginable, lol. (tech geek here). I haven't done any exact tests and don't have any proof other than my opinion, but at my house as well as around town, I get the worst reception EVER with this phone. Miss calls, bad reception.. whatever.. just sucks to put it bluntly. In my opinion. PalmOne did a great job making a phone with crazy awesome features and a bad *** PDA with awesome utilities, but they lost site of the ball trying to hit it out of the park and forgot above all, people want a phone that works. A cingular sales rep put it very well I thought when I was shopping for a phone.... "there are phones with features and phones that work." lol.

Sidenote: best reception was from both motorola phone's I've owned, second would be the nokia's. I really hate missing calls.

-Cody

[wocius]

I've been a T-Mo user in NYC for about seven years (originally with Voicestream, etc.) and about as many phones. The phone reception has always been rather spotty, but I wanted GSM and they have good rates. As a fellow user once said, "T-Mobile is great where it works." That said, I don't think it's worse than any local carrier, other than Verizon, which I gather from numerous friends does have much better service throughout the NYC area. I don't think T-Mo is any worse here than other GSM carriers.

Regarding the RF reception of the phone, my Treo 650 has the best reception of all the phones I've owned -- a few Motorolas, two Panasonics, and several Nokias.

[The Truth]

Same issue here. I dont think Ive ever held a full conversation while driving on the freeway without dropping the call at least once.

For all those making references to the P900 however, keep in mind that the SE P900 is nearly DOUBLE the cost of the Treo 650. In my opinion, I think that Palm could have used higher quality parts for a better overall build but it would have also raised the price significantly.

[mikec]

yep...

Treo RF sucks compared to "real" phones.

GSM, CDMA, etc., it does not matter. I have regular SE, Nokia and LG phones that hold signal great, but in the same areas, the Treo drops calls like they were tabs of acid at a Grateful Dead show.

Maybe they will improve it in the Treo 700.

[richard371]

I live in sf and mine has good rf even compared to my Blackberry 7100t. It pics up a signal fast once I go into an area with reception. I tried ATT sim and that was better. I got 5 bars in every muni station and it locked on quick when i went from station to station. To bad ATT cingular is more exp and their customer service sucks compared to tmo.

[jewps]

I'm glad I'm not the only person that thinks the t650 has horrible rf. My previous phone was a SE P900 as well. the p900 has good rf but its not the north american version so no 850. Even without 850, the p900 holds calls pretty well out of all the phones I've used.

The treo does have 850 so it helps a bit, but even with 850 it doesn't even come close to my p900

[mbrenner]

My CDMA 650 is as good as my Sanyo Vm4500 phone which as really good. It lacks analog (that the VM 4500 has) but anywhere the Sanyo will work CDMA the Treo will work. I went on a trip with my girlfirend and her 4500 and a few times I called her digital and her phone was roaming analog.

In SF ATT/Cingular is king of MUNI and Bart. No sprint in the tunnels or underground stations. No idea about T-mo. Also some folks on Cingular have tri-mode phones that are 1900 only in the us (a number of T-mo phones are also this way). So if the signal is 850 they cant use it. I think that some of the ATT equipment was 850.

The GSM Treo's are quad so the frequency shouldn't matter. They get all the US and international frequencies. CDMA treos are dual band 800 1900 but no european CDMA carriers exist so 900 1800 CDMA wouldn't help anyway.

MB

[glowrider]

My P900 cost less than the Treo 650, but anyway. Treo 650 receives no service with my tmo sim, p900 has 3-4 bars here, razr 3 bars. Treo 650 receives no service with my cingular sim here. The P900 and razr receive 1-2 bars. This leads me to believe it is the phone. I really want to keep the phone, but if I can't make/receive calls, what's the point? Any thoughts on the Treo 600's RF, or even a Blackberry?

[glowrider]

I really, really want the 650 to work, but I'm not holding my breath. Any alternatives to it with MUCH better RF that have similar functionality?

[Bill Gamble]

I've been impressed with my unlocked T650's RF; but, then again, my previous phones were notorious for having lousy RF, the SE t68i and T610.

[gw1]

The RF on my treo is much, much better than my previous phone (sidekick)

[glowrider]

cmon, alternate phone/pda units? is it possible it is this particular copy of the phone and not the design from the factory?

[Lubos]

Glowrider, I have the same problems and my colleagues as well (4 of them have 650). I don't think it's the problem of one copy - it is the problem of Treo itself. Today I have received my new T650 (replacement under warranty) and quess........
Poor RF again...