GPRS Connection Issue

[Hobbes]

I am having a hard time getting the GPRS connections to work w/ my phone. I am a Cingular customer with the 1.30 ROM and the phone won't connect to any service that uses GPRS unless its right after I turn on the phone. If I reset the phone or turn it on (the same thing I suppose), I can connect. If it times out because of in activity or if I lose signal, it won't reconnect. I am using the default settings of the replacement phone I got yesterday. I use the pay as I go data service and not a special data plan. I live and work (and tested the phone) in NYC.

BTW, I had this problem with the .325 ROM too so its either my settings, my SIM card, my account, my location, the signal going in and out (poor reception in my office), or my bad luck getting two perfect phone that can't connect via GPRS.

Can someone:

First, verify the settings for optimal performance and connectivity.

Second, explain the inner workings of GPRS in this phone/OS so I can understand the technology and, perhaps, why this happens.

Oh... and one other thing... My T-Mobile Blackberry that work gave me occasionally loses the GPRS functionality too. But, its VERY rare and no one else has that problem (its just my unit/SIM card).

Any help is greatly appreciated in advance.

[Kris Kumar]

I may not have much to offer here. But when you are trying to reconnect or restart the data session (like re-sync mail for the second time) do you see the small G on top of the signal strength bar. If you see that then tap on the End button to kill the current data session.

The big G icon tells you that the carrier cell tower is offering GPRS/data in the current area.

The small G icon on top of the signal strength comes on only during the data session. And it persists for I believe a minute or 10 minutes after you have made a data tranfer. So if within the timeout period you walk thru a dead zone or weak signal zone and you try to reconnect, the GPRS session that is persisting may not be valid anymore.

Hope this helps...

[Hobbes]

I will try that.

Are there any DNS settings I should change? I noticed in the GPRS Data Connection settings the primary and secondary DNS fields are set to 0.0.0.0 which I know can't be right. And there is no IP Address assigned.

What DNS servers do people use in the NYC area?

[Kris Kumar]

With T-Mobile I have have never assigned any IP/DNS addresses. It is always blank or 0.0.0.0. T-Mobile server assigns that information to my phone upon connection.

I don't know how it is with Cingular. :-( Since yours has worked without those values. I am guessing that Cingular also assigns those values to the Smartphone upon connection.

[Hobbes]

Well, I'll reset the phone and, when I'm in an area /w good signal, see if I can connect. I'll wait for a time out and see what happens.

Thanks for the help.

[Hobbes]

Is there a way to extend the timeout period? I'd like to have it set to always on.

[Kris Kumar]

Time out period can be extended by going into

Setting->Data connections->Menu->Options

Idle disconnect after, default is 10.

But in your case I feel that you should have it disconnect more quickly.

[busysignal]

Same situation here. Here is a solution that I found:

Start>Settings>Data Connections>Menu>Options>Changed "Idle disconnect after" setting to "None" and have been able to connect to the internet at will!

I hope this helps others that have been having this problem.