N80, Orange, signal strength & battery life

MCS

MCS

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Hi all,

The missus and I have both changed from Nokia 6630s on O2 contract to N80s on Orange contract...and so far it's not been too great. Don't get me wrong - the phone is great, Orange had the best deal by far and the customer service has been good so far...

BUT

The battery life is CRAP. I've done 3 full discharges and 16 hour charges and it hasn't helped. I even used my 6630 for a day leaving the N80 idle (sleep mode) and it still drained half of it's battery overnight! I am lucky to managed 1.5 days out of it even with minimal use.

The signal is poor, where the O2 was strong. We have tried switching the phone to GSM mode only but it's still rubbish - 80% of the time I can't make a call from my own house.

And finally, when I can make a call, it connects packet data, even though I've set it not to, thus (I am guessing) I will end up having my account credited with data useage even though it was a voice call.

Looking for similar experiences from other N80/Orange customers?

Thanks
 
Soldato
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20 Oct 2002
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Bromley
You have 14 days to return it from the day you started/received the handset?

Not happy, use the clause :)

EDIT might be worth ringing them in case they have a cell down
 
Associate
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Mate thats faulty I had the same thing on my orange N80 and exactly same probs as you they changed it and now it lasts about 2 days!!, and the reception is normal again....
 
Man of Honour
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Poor signal will cause poor battery life pretty much by definition. However it's definitely worth calling customer services to have a chat, it may be a mast is down in your area or there could be problems with coverage or with the handset (unlikely with two though).

As already stated, if you aren't happy, you will (in most cases) have the 14 day moneyback option.
 
Soldato
Joined
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Posts
3,089
I certainly find the battery life on my n80 is much worse at home where the signal is poor than at university, where i have full signal.

In general though, the n80's battery life is pretty poor. Mine is normally flashing low battery at me by the end of the day and i don't think i'm that heavy a user:

1hr calls, 20 txts, 10mins wifi, and maybe 20mins of 3g/gprs browsing, and general looking at the screen to check my calender etc.
 

MCS

MCS

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Admittedly the battery has been a little better this week, I can live with that in reality, just have to rememeber to keep charging it.

We get full signal strength if we step just outside...

I'm going to give Orange a call as I'm also worried about the Packet Data connections during voice calls.

It seems unlikely that we have two faulty phones?
 
Man of Honour
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MCS said:
Admittedly the battery has been a little better this week, I can live with that in reality, just have to rememeber to keep charging it.

We get full signal strength if we step just outside...

I'm going to give Orange a call as I'm also worried about the Packet Data connections during voice calls.

It seems unlikely that we have two faulty phones?

The "Packet data connection" message will be due to you either having packet data set to "when available" rather than "when needed" in the settings>>connection menu, or having the photography software set to automatically try and upload any photos you take to your orange gallery (I think that's under "my phone>>Photography" or something similar.)
 

MCS

MCS

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OP
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Location
South Hampshire
Got a little tired of waiting in phone queues yesterday so today phoned the disconnections department instead... Not only did I get straight through to somebody they put me through to a very helpful chap who obviously new what he was talking about. He had an N80 at his end.

Dolph - you're right about the Orange Photography app causing the packet data, I have disabled the service. I don't think Orange realised the implications at first and as such have probably had numerous calls about it.

There is also a antenna down in my area, was due to be fixed 2 days ago but will be fixed ASAP. The phone battery is depleting as it searches for a better signal, so everything starts to tie up now!

Happier about it all today - the N80 is still a great phone, and Orange have been very helpful! :)
 
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