LG Optimus 3D "Ghost call" issue on Gingerbread update

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Linuxluver

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Topic # 98505 29-Feb-2012 15:55

It is with a heavy heart and teary eye I report the recent upgrade to Android v2.3.5 on the LG Optimus 3D phone has introduced a rather serious bug that sees the phone silently drop off the cell network while appearing to still be on it.

Phone calls to you don't get through...and txt messages aren't received.

If you re-boot the phone, the txts come through but you are never notified of any missed calls unless they also left a voice message and you're notified of that by txt (after the re-boot).

This is a VERY annoying bug and I have seen it myself - daily - since I upgraded. Toggling airplane mode off and on is a quick work around, but doing that too often can cause the mode switcher to get 'stuck'....again requiring a reboot.

LG are aware of the problem and consider it to be very serious. A patch is apparently being tested.

More at XDA:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=23086655#post23086655

IMPORTANT NEWS ON THE GHOST CALL ISSUE

Hi guys. I bought an O3D about 2 months ago via a close friend of mine who is working at the Turkish branch of LG. About 2 weeks ago, I read this topic and discovered that I also was experiencing this issue but I wasn't aware of that to that moment. So after I realized this big problem, I read the whole topic and I confirmed that I have the exact problem on my O3D. After that I immediately called my friend at LG and told him about the problem, summarized to him what I read in this topic and sent him the link of this topic.

He contacted me today to tell me about the progress and he said that there are good news. After my call, he sent an e-mail to the LG HQ at Korea, and after a few days, they directly called him on the phone, and they discussed about the problem. My friend said to me that at first, the research & development department didn't believed this problem of ours, because it didn't showed up on some tests they ran. But after he told them what I told him and he showed this xda topic to them, they realized that this is a pretty big issue.

So, for now we know the global R&D team of LG is developing a patch for this issue, it’s not a brand new baseband but they say it will work. Actually my friend said that LG released a patch in France a few days ago and France branch will send it to the Turkish branch in a couple of days, after that Turkish LG will run some tests with the patch and if it works, they will release it. So, if it is “the” patch, maybe some of you guys can search for it and find out that if it works or not by yourselves, before some official announcement from LG Global.

I hope they will solve this problem of our very soon. If I hear any news, I will write again.

P.S. : I was following this O3D forum for 2 months and this ghost call topic for 2 weeks but I just created an account to write down the news I have for you.

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Ledgy

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Reply # 588411 29-Feb-2012 16:18

I've updated to 2.3.5 on my Huwei Ideos x5 some weeks ago now & I noticed this today where signal was gone & i was in Turangi at the time. I fiddled around with a few settings but that didnt make a difference. I had to reboot & all was fine.

So i don't think its just a LG problem.

Bring on the update/fix!

sbiddle

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Reply # 588419 29-Feb-2012 16:28

The issue is nothing new. I've had it on my Optumus Black for months on Froyo and now GB.

LG deny all knowledge, and I'm in the process of sending it back to Tisco at their request. They of course won't be able to replicate the issue, so will reflash the phone and say it's fixed.

This will of course not fix the issue, and I'll just trash LG for the rest of my life..

Linuxluver

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Reply # 588425 29-Feb-2012 16:31

Ledgy: I've updated to 2.3.5 on my Huwei Ideos x5 some weeks ago now & I noticed this today where signal was gone & i was in Turangi at the time. I fiddled around with a few settings but that didnt make a difference. I had to reboot & all was fine.

So i don't think its just a LG problem.

Bring on the update/fix!

Thanks!

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Linuxluver

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Reply # 588626 29-Feb-2012 23:17

OK...This is strange.

I swapped the Telecom XT SIM into my HTC Sensation.

I swapped a 2Degrees SIM into the LG Optimus 3D....and it has been able to receive texts consistently for the past 6 hours.

Maybe the problem is Telecom not having GSM.....Hmm.

I'll leave the 2Degrees SIM in the LG O3D for a while and see what happens.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 588657 1-Mar-2012 06:31

I've spent around 30+ hours so far working on this issue, including help from JohnR looking at signalling on the Vodafone end to rule out a network issue, as they had a rather large network wide issue that I identified a couple of years ago causing very similar issues, and everybody will also be aware of the infamous GPRS network issues circa 2003 causing similar things to also happen.

In my experience the issue has happened more often than not when I have known that I'd been in low coverage areas, or areas with no coverage at all. The phone continues to show signal bars and/or 3G and HSDPA indicators however these are stuck in their current state and will not change. Signalling on the network end shows no ongoing attempts by the phone to reregister on the network.

It could well be related to WCDMA/GSM handover in some way, as in a CBD environment the phone is very likely to attempt a handover to GSM in a low coverage area before losing signal due to the poor inbuilding penetration of 2100MHz vs GSM 900 or 1800.

My frustration is having a phone that hasn't worked in the 6 months that I've had it, both with Froyo and GB. I first started investigating it with Vodafone in October, and my hope was that Gingerbread may have included new baseband code but it obviosly hasn't. Right now I have a phone that in all reality isn't fit for purpose, and IMHO Vodafone should be pulling the type approval for this handset because it has a known fault that there is currently no fix for.

It reminds me of the BellSouth days where BellSouth had the global launch of an Ericsson handset (GF688 from memory) and sold ~5000 or so over a weekend with a huge deal bringing customers from Telecom. By the following Wednesday they had to recall the handsets due to a major software bug in them!

Linuxluver

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Reply # 588659 1-Mar-2012 06:57

@sbiddle - what you describe seems to fit. The network indicators on the phone do get stuck as a symptom if the problem.

I've had the 2Degrees SIM in the LG O3D for 14 hours now and it is still happily receiving txts and calls. On XT the plot would almost certainly have been lost by now.

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nix

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Reply # 588676 1-Mar-2012 08:30

I have a Nexus S purchased from Vodafone running the still crippled but official ICS update. If my phone is in my pocket or bag it doesn't ring and texts don't come through. I only get notification if it's in my hand or out in the open. This happened on Gingerbread as well.

Is this the same problem?

Linuxluver

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Reply # 588892 1-Mar-2012 14:52

nix: I have a Nexus S purchased from Vodafone running the still crippled but official ICS update. If my phone is in my pocket or bag it doesn't ring and texts don't come through. I only get notification if it's in my hand or out in the open. This happened on Gingerbread as well.

Is this the same problem?

That's an angle I hadn't tested for.....so maybe.

As of now my LG O3D has had the 2Degrees SIM in it for 22 hours and hasn't dropped out once. The same phone on Telecom XT was dropping out every 60 minutes if not sooner...and staying out until I re-booted it.

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Linuxluver

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Reply # 590484 5-Mar-2012 10:51

I had my LG Optimus 3D on the 2Degrees SIM for a full week...and it did not drop out for phone or txt even once. I was randomly sending it text messages every day....and every message was received in seconds.

I've swapped the Telecom XT SIM back into the O3D and set the "Network Mode" to "GSM/HSPA Auto". It had been "HSPA only" before. I'll see if that makes any difference.

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Linuxluver

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Reply # 592475 8-Mar-2012 17:16

OK...I've had the Telecom XT SIM back in my LG Optimus 3D phone (on stock Android v2.3.5) and it has been working flawlessly...not missing phone calls and not missing txts.

I have changed two things:

1. I stopped using the LG-supplied "Application Manager" app to periodically kill all apps. There really isn't nay need anyway.

2. I have changed the Network Mode (Menu -> Settings -> Wireless & Networks -> Mobile Networks) to "GSM/HSPA Auto".

One or other or both of these changes appear to have addressed the problem of falling off the XT network several times / day.

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Linuxluver

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Reply # 598188 21-Mar-2012 13:21

I refleshed the firmware to the stock, un-rooted Canadian firmware (from the stock, un-rooted NZ version) and the ghost call issue returned on Telecom XT...with a vengeance.

Again, I first tried a factory reset. It made little difference.

I again put the 2Degrees SIM in and - again - the problem appears to have disappeared. It's been a week now and the phone has been utterly reliable for phone and txt on 2Degrees.

I'll try the Telecom SIM again in a few days.....and this time I won't do a factory reset after swapping SIMs.

There is something going here....and I can't account for why switching to 2Degrees sees the phone become reliable and stay reliable even after switched to another telco....unless I do a factory reset....in which case I need to get the phone back onto 2Degrees to sort it out....

One of the weirdest work-arounds I've ever seen. But at least the phone works well on stock Android v2.3.5 when I handle it this way.

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sbiddle

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Reply # 598196 21-Mar-2012 13:28

After doing a little more research into this a few sources have indicated to me the issue is possibly a signalling related one specific to certain brand networks, ie the phone has issues with ALU and NSN kit but seems to work fine on a Huawei network.

I still haven't sent my phone away to LG NZ for servicing in part because I've been far too busy, and secondly because they're not actually going to be able to fix the problem anyway.

Linuxluver

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Reply # 598199 21-Mar-2012 13:31

sbiddle: After doing a little more research into this a few sources have indicated to me the issue is possibly a signalling related one specific to certain brand networks, ie the phone has issues with ALU and NSN kit but seems to work fine on a Huawei network.

I still haven't sent my phone away to LG NZ for servicing in part because I've been far too busy, and secondly because they're not actually going to be able to fix the problem anyway.

I had no issues on Froyo.

It's only since upgrading to Android v2.3.5.

On XDA several people with the issue have gone back to Froyo and are waiting for a fix / patch....that may or may not come.

UPDATE: I should have mentioned that the bluetooth support is not reliable if a notification event occurs. The volume on the bluetooth headset can be / is multiplied upward and the sound becomes terrible. These seems to lead to other software instability - random tasks kicking off when a txt or email notification sound is attempted, for example. In the end I did a factory reset, hoping to fix it as it stayed flakey across a reboot (though I had attempted to carry on using the bluetooth headset,).

Provided I avoid using the bluetooth support, the phone seems to behave itself.

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Linuxluver

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Reply # 604527 3-Apr-2012 13:32

sbiddle: After doing a little more research into this a few sources have indicated to me the issue is possibly a signalling related one specific to certain brand networks, ie the phone has issues with ALU and NSN kit but seems to work fine on a Huawei network.

I still haven't sent my phone away to LG NZ for servicing in part because I've been far too busy, and secondly because they're not actually going to be able to fix the problem anyway.

Following up, I've now had my LG Optimus 3D on 2Degrees for two weeks and it has been 100% reliable. Never missed a text or a call while on the 2Degrees network.

But...while in Coatesville on the weekend, roaming on Vodafone, I wasn't able to send a txt. (Update: Which may / may not be due to the P925G version of the phone not supporting 850MHz 3G)

So it looks like GB 2.3.5 works perfectly on this phone provided you're on 2Degrees. If you're on Telecom or Vodafone....you may find this phone to be unreliable as a phone.

I'd say your advice on Huawei telco gear versus other gear may well be true....based on my experiences with this since mid-February.

So my LG Optimus 3D will remain on 2Degrees for now.

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