Nokia E71-2 reception issues? Mmm
There’s word on the big bad Internets that the E71-2 is having a bit of reception problems. If you’re a Nokia fan, you know that’s pretty hard to believe. But, we can tell you that the E71 does in fact suffer from a horrible reception problem. While our Bold and iPhone 3G are constantly on 3G, our E71 has never even picked up a 3G signal. Additionally, we’re only getting 1 bar on EDGE sometimes! What’s the quick fix? Well, as dumb as this may seem (though the out of place bright red power button is pretty damn dumb), the only place to integate the cellular radio antenna was on the bottom back. It’s pretty much the only roomy place on the device where there is no metal. If you’re suffering from reception issues with the E71, try this… first, completely cover the bottom back plastic piece with your hand, and check out the number of bars you have. Then, grab the phone just at the very top by the ear piece, and hold it for a couple seconds. Did your reception just skyrocket? Yeah, ours too. There’s only one issue with this… most people, you know, hold the phone in their hand because they want to… uh… use it. Anyone out there finding the same thing? Hit us up!
I did mention in my review of the review a week or so ago about reception issues. I will also say that a few of NOKS low end phones do have some MAJOR reception issues. 6085 is pretty bad but the worst is the 6130 series pure crap… even the lonely 2610 beats it hands down. I am thinking of actually taking the back of and drilling about 30 tiny holes into the metal case… give it a nice cheese grater kind of look and then polish up the holes a bit. of course if you want stellar reception nohthing beats a MOTO v9, q9 or z9 when it comes to GSM here in the states.
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Boy Genius,
So you’ve owned the E71 for a day and that was enough to establish as ‘fact’ that E71 is one of the worst performing in terms of reception from Nokia?
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I’ve had no reception issues with the E71-2. To claim it as one of Nokia’s worst performing handsets for rf, you’d really need some type of netmon app.
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I just did your test on my 4 day old E71 and see quite a difference in reception depending on how you hold it. Did you review version have a different firmware than the production unit?
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I have both the E71-2 and the iPhone 3G and the E71-2 appears to get better reception than the iPhone 3G in the exact same areas so I think the iPhone 3G should probably be slammed more than the E71. Actually, I notice when I put my hand around the iPhone 3G that the bars drop down 2 or 3 while on the E71 it only drops 1 bar. I don’t think bar measurements are accurate in the least, but they do give you trends.
I get reception with the E71-2 and AT&T in the center of our building (2 bars) and I get zero reception on the iPhone 3G there so in my experiences the iPhone 3G is the one with major reception issues.
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Palmsolo: You think people aren’t hating on the iPhone enough already? Why it is that when anyone has anything negative to post about a phone, people turn it into a “slam the iphone” thread. This issue has NOTHING to do with the iPhone so why drag it into the conversation?
God forbid a precious Nokia should have an issue with having to scream “iPhones’ worse” for misdirection. Nokia’s were better when made in Finland. They, like everything else now, are Chinese made crapola.
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Palmsolo: Is that your alias or a description of your sexlife?
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Zzzzzzz. . .Never have so many argued over something of which so few actually cared.
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Wait, wait.
You’ve had the phone for a DAY and that’s enough to make it a FACT that it’s a terrible phone? You don’t think maybe you just got a…bad one? Try exchanging it? Or maybe hold your phone properly, instead of over the antenna.
Every phone without an external antenna has a spot (and it’s usually large) where you shouldn’t place your hands. It says this in the manual.
@evilhomer: On my box, it says “made in Finland” which, last time I checked, was still not part of China.
This is one of the best phones I’ve used, if not the best, in terms of reception, speed, and everything else. I’m a Nokia convert - BGR just got a bad one, and it needs to be replaced. It happens to the best of them (yes, even the iPhone) no matter what.
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Got mine about two weeks ago. I’ve had a few instances where it’ll lose a 3/3.5G signal, drop to a weak Edge signal and then the phone would be slow to pick up the G reception again once I’m back in areas that I know are covered. When I turn it off and on again, the full G signal is picked up. This has happened a handful of times and the areas where I lose the 3G signals are borderline in terms of their coverage. My blackberry is on the same network and gets full edge the entire time. Pretty annoying, but not something I would get rig of the phone for. I suspect this can and will be addressed with a firmware update.
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“This thing, in our opinion, is the best phone Nokia has made to date.”
And yet, it got comments like that when reviewed by BG, sooo…uhh..what happened?
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@evilhomer: No need to slam palmsolo. He knows his mobile devices. Trust me on that one.
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@ Evilhomer
I don’t think palmsolo is trying to slam the iPhone, he’s just bringing up this site’s obvious bias towards it.
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@Tom r: I ordered a Nokia N95-4, the FLAGSHIP of Nokia phones and it was made in China and felt like it was made in Chine. Was very sub-par for Nokia. It went back. I guess I figured if their Flagship phone was pushed off to China for manufacturing, I figured this RIM knockoff was too. No, wait. That’s not fair. At least with RIM you can use Blackberry. No more BC for Eseries. That was as smart of a move as shipping production to China.
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Maybe this is a problem of one piece. It is much better make some tests with more E71s before write an article … you know, to be sure with info like this.
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Boy, some people sure do get heated about issues like this.
Anyhow, all I can say is that from my experience in my apt in Chicago, I used to get fine reception with my BBerry Pearl. Now, after having the e71 for 2 days I cannot connect to the network at all due to lack of reception. I love everything else about the phone, but given that I don’t have a landline, it might have to go back and I’ll give into the lure of the iPhone 3G.
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no problems here, full bars and 3g
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@Chris B: I think that’s exactly what he was doing. No one, including BG is bias toward the iPhone. People love the iPhone. People could care less about Nokia. Either way, the iPhone had nothing to do whatsoever with the topic of the post but people can’t seem to turn EVERY damn post into something negative about the iPhone.
This site is going to report on hot items and whether you like it or not, the iPhone is the hottest device on the market. It’s not BG’s fault if the iPhone makes more news than the rest, including the infallible Nokia’s…
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@Borlan: Why don’t you start your own blog then you can decide the criteria in which an article is written or not? This problem has been reported here and in other forums. Why don’t you do a little research before you go telling people what they should write about?
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I have the UK version for about a week. No reception issues whatsoever. My 2 cents.
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lmmfao, “No one, including BG is bias toward the iPhone. People love the iPhone.”
Best quote I’ve ever seen on this blog.
I’m quite sure we’ve identified BG’s alt account.
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Here is a real quick fix to the E71’s connectivity… you simply return it and wait patiently for the Blackberry Bold.
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I think maybe there should be more explanation on this issue. My E71-2 picks up a very strong signal. So as far as “reception” goes I think its pretty good. Its when it has to hand-off between 3G and 2.5G (Edge) that it has issues. Big Issues in my opinion! It seems to have some problem with this switch between networks and drops the call. My E71-2 has been so bad its on Ebay now! I had about 4 dropped calls in a span of about 2 hours. And the funny thing is Im in a pretty strong 3G area too. If you read the thread on Howard Forums that BGR posted earlier we talk about this through most of the thread.
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Wow. This has gone pretty far, pretty fast. To throw my $0.02 in, I’ve been using an E71-2 for a few days now and it’s safe to say that it does indeed show the worst reception of all the Nokia handsets I can recall owning.
In my home office if I line up the E71 next to any other handset I have, the E71 reception is a bit off. Then if I hold it by the antenna cover at the bottom, forget it. This is apparently par for the course - a quick search on Google or HoFo will yield plenty of similar assessments. As I type this in fact, My E71 is lined up next to my N95 8GB - both in dual mode. N95 8GB is bouncing back and forth between full 3G and 4 bars, E71 is humming around 5-6 bars… of EDGE.
That said, I’ve been using the phone constantly since I took delivery of it and I have yet to drop a call. Connectivity is about as consistent as any other S60 handset in terms of web time outs and the like. As silly as it sounds, get in the habit of holding it without covering the bottom and you’ll be fine. Cover the bottom, and you’ll be pissed.
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My $0.02….had the E71-2 for almost 2 weeks and absolutely no reception problems and/or dropped calls. Awesome phone btw.
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