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!
“While our Bold and iPhone 3G are constantly on 3G,…”
You have got to be kidding me BG. For the mass public that does not own an iPhone 3G, touting its great 3G reception may fly, but for those of us who own one, and anyone who has not been living in a cave for the past month, there are literally tens of thousands of complaints worldwide regarding the new iPhone’s inability to hold onto a 3G signal (or any signal sometimes).
It’s laughable you compared and contrasted the E71’s supposed poor reception to the iPhone’s, as if the iPhone’s notably weak cellular radio and reception problems are anything to aspire to.
And I’m not an Apple hater. I own the 3G iPhone and there are many things I love about it, but I appreciate objectivity when I read these things. Call a spade a spade.
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@TMon
You are assuming I said the iPhone 3G’s 3G reception is great. I would highly recommend re-reading what I have posted. What I said was, when the Bold and iPhone are getting a 3G signal, (still following?) the E71 is not. Using your argument which I in fact agree with, we can then assume the iPhone 3G is not a perfect 3G handset as far as reception, and can further assume that the E71 must be worse than the less-than-perfect iPhone 3G because of the device’s inability to grab a 3G signal in the same exact location. Bold (when it’s working well) > iPhone 3G > Nokia E71-2.
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While I understand your point, I did not mis-read your post; I just think it is highly misleading.
You’re comparing a phone you say has problems receiving a 3G signal (E71) and contrasting it to one that there has been near outrage from consumers to have the same issues (still following?).
You don’t think people will read this and assume that you are saying the iPhone 3G gets great 3G reception? You didn’t have to come out and say it, it was implied. I think that’s evident from the number of comments you are getting about this.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just compare it to any number of devices that actually can hang on to a 3G signal without issue?
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Wow, BG….I think you should stop putting down the E71-2 until you actually get it replaced or have some more time with the phone. Its really making you look bad…you are definitely doing a 180 from what you had posted on your video review. Im sure you caused alot of pple to run out and get an E71 because of your review and now Im sure those same pple are feeling very slighted. Must be a slow news day or something. And, I did check out the posts on Howard Forums….Only a minimal amount of people had anything negative to say on the E71’s reception. Since Im not a owner of an E71 and planning to get one….can you post a video of how youre holding the E71? Maybe show us the position of your hand and show the how many bars of 3G that you are getting.
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I do not have any reception issues for my FINLAND MADE E71-2…not sure where this made in china crap is coming from
I’ve had the phone since Friday and I am absolutely loving it thus far.
I find it hard to believe a phone of this caliber could have reception issues.
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@Chris B: I don’t have to be associated with any blog, which I am not, to point out the huge success and sales of the iPhone. It’s not perfect but geez, it’s only a little over a year old and already kicking serious butt. Nokia’s been doing it for years and years and managed to excite about one hundredth of one percent of the public with this E71. All they do it send us unsubsidized, overpriced, handsets that have little to offer over other devices.
Sorry but they just aren’t as exciting as you’d like to think they are. Otherwise, we’d be seeing the lines out the door of the, what, two Nokia stores in the country instead of the Apple stores… That’s what really makes you mad.
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Evil Homer, I think you are the one thats mad. You are always commenting on Nokia stories on the BGR. Everytime there is a Nokia story on this site, I know that you will be leaving a negative comment.
Also its kinda funny that Nokia has only 2 stores in the US, but has a 41% market share globally! No other phone manufacturer even crosses the 20% global marketshare. Its not even funny! Maybe its the Americans that need to realize that Apple/Motorola is not offering much. Get a clue! Hey atleast the E71 is not overheating and melting the plastic off its back cover (the Iphone 3G is doing a fine job of that) Overhyped phone with cheap plastics.
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@ BGR:
Could you make some random post on Nokia? Im sure EvilHomer (who is secretly envious of NOKIA) will post something negative.
I heard EvilHomer got a hooker, and she charged him a finders fee.
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Im having perfect RF with ZERO issues..EXCELLENT 3g as well as edge when i turn off 3g…
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I hope this doesn’t prove true in my service area. I have been eyeing the Nokia E71 for a while now and I’m about ready to buy one.
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After 3 pages of he said she said, the only positive thing i got out of all of this is that the preprod unit had better signal strenght, so hopefully this is something that can be fixed with a software update.
I have had an e71-1 and i have and use an e71-2and both do not seem to hold a signal as well as any n95 or the n82. Still love the phone, though
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So true there is a reception problem 100% I get a strong signal untill i touch the phone. Its ridiculous. I paid $513 from the nokia store in chicago. Sending it back ASAP
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probably E71 is totally incompatible with T-Mobile
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I’ve had the e71-2 for about a week in Dallas and on T-Mobile. No reception issues here, but I did pick up 3G at my friend’s condo…..strange. Oh well.
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I have an E71-1 running on T-mobile and I have amazing reception, on par with my N95, which was fantastic.
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@That Guy: You are an idiot. I don’t comment on hardly any Nokia posts, in the negative or otherwise. I have commented a few times about how dissatisfied that I was with my N95-4 which was made in China and was, IMO, cheaply built for a $750 price tag. Dont’ make up stuff about my posts to try and make me look like a hater. I don’t hate Nokia’s, I just don’t see the appeal in them since the only decent ones are unsubsidized and overpriced.
Who cares if Nokia has 40% of the marketshare? I should think as long as they’ve been in business, and the fact that they make primarily GSM phones, that they would be. Having only two stores in the US doesn’t have anything to do with their “global” appeal so I’m not sure what your point is there. Sure, they are popular in Europe so if you live there then bully for you. Grap yourself a Nokia. However, I don’t and don’t see the wisdom in paying up to and over a grand for some of these Nokia high end devices of theirs when there are cheaper alternatives with the SAME feautres. Half of the ones they ship over here don’t even work on American 3G and have to be purchased from shady 3rd party resellers for even higer inflated prices.
The intent of my original post was not to bad mouth Nokia but to ask why an article posted about a problem with the reception of the device, which apparently is NOT an isolated issue, turned into a reason to bash the iPhone. It’s like a smoke and mirrors act. If there might be something wrong with your perfect little Nokia, lets distract from the issue by bashing the iPhone. Why don’t you just discuss the issue with the E71 or lack thereof without dragging the iPhone into it?
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haha hahah hahaha hahah!!!!
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I’ve had 2 E71’s one a E71-1 and the other E71-2 both had reception issues here in Canada. Started a thread on howardforums
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1407145&page=1&pp=15
(sorry if not allowed to post websites)
I’ve switched to an N82 and have had no issues getting reception with it. Hope they fix this soon and fast.
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So I encountered the dreaded reception issue this evening. Stranded in Chicago O’Hare airport, I was trying to contact my company’s travel department and my connection was a jumbled MESS. I had full 3G bars. Frustrated, I switched to GPRS. Same thing. Garbled mess. How entirely frustrating that was to experience after taking a 6am flight and being stranded in the airport all day. I’m in a hotel in Chicago right now…and I was supposed to be in GA at 9am today, but that’s another story.
Anyhow, there definitely is a serious reception issue. I had not had any issues prior to today, but let me tell you this issue reared it’s ugly head today and it was so entirely frustrating I almost lost it. It was like a crackling, low volume scratchy sound on my end, and the other party couldn’t understand a word I was saying. Again, all with full 3G and then GPRS bars. Tried both modes, same result.
I am wondering if it happens when the network is overloaded. There were so many people with flight problems today the network was overloaded in Chicago O’Hare. Never have I had any issues. In fact, I’m at the Marriott a few miles form the hotel right now re-booking my flight while using the internet on 3G data and talking with united over my phone (BT headset). Crystal clear on both ends.
The reception issue has to do with a very busy network…unless others are getting the same issue in a smaller town…
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Has this entire website gone mad? covering the internal antenna on ANY PHONE causes this. my n95 goes from full to 1 bar if i cover the antenna. my n75 does the same, and its antenna is in the bottom of the flip phone. so i am just baffled how BGR writes that “putting your hands over the antenna makes the bars go down” as if its the only phone on the planet that does that.
now i will admit that i have read some complaints about e71 switching 3G to GSM networks. but covering the antenna to reduce bars happens ON EVERY CELL PHONE IN EXISTENCE! so what exactly are we talking about here?
oh and please dont ever compare an RF/reception issue of one phone with another phone that is KNOWN to have the same poor RF problem, i.e. the 3G iphone. it makes no sense to even MENTION the 3G iphone in this article, since it has been known to have RF problem from day 1 on 3G networks worldwide. the way in which it was posted somehow praised the 3G iphone’s RF capabilities while diminishing the e71’s RF. true or not, iphone 3G is NOT a milestone to compare in the RF department. geez
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Hi Guys!
I live in downtown Montreal City in Canada. I have my Nokia E71-2 made in Finland. I use with the fido/Rogers network since july 23, 2008. I don’t have any bad reception issues in 2G/3G/wifi mode.
Today, I try myseft to hold the phone the way they tested BGR but I can’t lose any signale on my phone during multitasking : Viewing on youtube, website browsing, my chating session with Palringo and fring. Also I test the 3G in the subway Metro works better that my 2G.
The only thing I notice that’s not worked well it’s the GPS with Google Map when I put my hand on the bottom and the top of the plastic antenna.
Other than that I’m very please with the phone. Except for power red button on/off.. I don’t get why they put an ugly red button like that…
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I’ve been checking my bars, pretty much every time I moved around since yesterday and it’s never dropped below 5 bars, in fact most of the times it’s six. Even after a 20 minute conversation (ie constantly using my hands to block reception), and then after hanging up checking out the bars straight away after the conversation and I was still at 6 bars. Plus I’m always connected to 3G, and I gotta love that 3.5G when I connect to the net.
However I am living Zürich, Switzerland. could just be our American friends that are affected by this. Perhaps the 3g signal is weaker in the US considering the the amount of land it needs to cover. Hope it gets sorted for you guys. An issue like network coverage should be a thing of the past especially considering what a sweet and complete phone the E71 is.
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i am using my e71-2 in venezuela (we don’t have 3g) and it’s doing ok reception wise.
Wlan with wep crashes the phone, also the contacts application sometimes crashes. The camera really sucks, even the motorola v3 camera has a better sensor. Otherwise i really like it.
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The reception on my E71 was worse than my 1st gen Iphone and Iphone 3g. The phone would constantly lose signal in my office when the other phones and my blackberry pearl would always have at least one bar. I love the phone and great battery life but I returned it after a few days. My vendor also had a few returns due to reception issues.
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I have not problems at all- in fact, i consistantly get 3.5G service here in DC.
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