Huawei E585 Connection Problem

[sjfalexander]

I've had an E585 for the past 18 months that's locked to the 3 network and which has worked flawlessly. Last week I bought a secondhand E585 (also locked to 3) along with a new 3GB SIM for a work colleague. However, I've tried everything I can think of but just can't get it to connect. I've been running both units side-by-side and, where mine connects with no problems and usually excellent signal strength, this other one just does one of three things:

1. It does several minutes of searching then reverts to "No Network"
2. After a long search it eventually connects to the 3 network then constantly cycles between "Connecting" and "Connected" eventually reverting to "No Network"
3. It eventually connects to the 3 network and stays connected but only until I try to connect one of my WiFi devices to it, whereupon it immediately goes back to either doing (1) or (2) above.

I've reset it to factory default (many times!), checked the APN settings and the firmware (it has the latest version, same as my own) as well as reinstalling the firmware using the links in this forum. I also swapped SIMs between units - the SIM from the problem unit works fine in my own but the SIM from my own doesn't make any difference to the problem unit, it still fails.

I've been to half-a-dozen different places across the UK on my travels in the past week and my faithful old unit has worked like a charm in all of them but this other one has failed everywhere. Well, there was one place - Peartree Park & Ride car park in Oxford where I managed for a few short minutes to get connected and, to my amazement, a speed test registered 6.5Mbps! But as soon as I left it disconnected and hasn't worked since.

I've been in contact with the private seller who seems quite genuine and apologetic, even though he says it always worked well for him and he only sold it as he's changed jobs. He's offered me a full refund but I said I'd give it one more try before that. I've not yet contacted 3 customer support as, judging by the comments in this forum and from other things I've heard, they sound pretty ineffectual and I thought that I'd get much better advice from here.

Has anyone had a similar experience and/or have any advice as to what I can do? Any help would be really appreciated as I'm completely out of ideas!

[Ben]

Hi sjfalexander, welcome to Talk3G!

How infuriating! I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest other than seeing if @ThreeUKSupport on Twitter have any ideas. It does indeed sound like a hardware issue if you ask me, maybe a problem with the antenna or god knows what really. Perhaps some of the other folk will have ideas for you - I've never had a problem with mine, so this is one area I've not really had to troubleshoot!

[sjfalexander]

Thanks. Yes, this one has got me completely stumped. I guess it could only be hardware, unless something at 3's network end doesn't like my unit for some reason.

I'm not currently on Twitter so I think I'll first of all give 3's phone support a try tomorrow and also head down to my local 3 Store to see if they can do something there to check it (probably not but I live in hope!). If that doesn't bring any joy then I'll sign up to Twitter and try 3's tech guys on there, from what I can see they look pretty helpful.

[Ben]

Yeah, Three's Twitter team are the silver lining of their very dark CS cloud! That said, I think it used to be better when it was just @ThreeUK... I've been messaging @ThreeUKSupport about a coverage issue in a specific location and they're yet to respond :-/

[Hands0n]

Yeah, I'd go with the Twitter route, for advice if nothing else. The call centre CS will be completely useless unless you are the original owner and can prove where you bought it from and a number of other questions. It really is infuriating, but that seems to be their current set of rules and they are very inflexible.

That said, it does sound like a hardware issue, if anything perhaps damage to the aerial or the connection to it. Perhaps it has taken a bit of a drop at some time. That you have already tried a firmware refresh kind of points to the hardware.

I would be very inclined to go the return and refund route.

[sjfalexander]

Thanks for your help guys. I'll give the Twitter team a try. I hate to admit defeat but I think you're right, it looks like I'll have to go for a refund. I've had my eye on an E586 anyway so I might go for one of those and give the trusty old E585 to my workmate.

[Hands0n]

If you enjoy a good E585 experience then the E586 will be a bit of a treat. :)

[paulbds]

I have been very happy with my E586 and to date has not let me down

I had it unlocked via IMEI code available from ebay

Enjoy

[StevieW]

Guys

Just joined to add my experience of my E585.

Mine was purchased through Amazon in August it is an unlocked version and I use a Telefonica O2 sim card.

From day 1 it was great. I hooked up my transformer E pad to it and I have had trouble free connectivity right up until the middle of November. I switched it on as per usual and up came all the correct icons with the exception of MB status counter, all I had was connecting which would disappear and then re appear. This happened for a couple of minutes then the unit just sat there with no 3G connection.

I have done everything the manuals suggest and indeed what some have mentioned on here but it is still in limbo.

I E mailed the supplier who was sympathetic to the point of telling me it was still in warranty and Huawei should be able to replace it. Straight forward I thought, I registered the unit and myself with Huawei and then Emailed them as there is no support from them in the UK for such devices and the closest Hotline number in English was in Australia or the USA.

I have Emailed them twice now and still have not had a response, I am now going back to the supplier to try and sort it out.

If anybody in the mean time does resolve this issue please can you let me know as the unit when it was working was fantastic, so much so we were looking to use these in our business at work.

As for the E586 thats OK but for a unit I paid £72 for just a few months ago I feel I need my E585 resolved.

[Hands0n]

My first thought is that your conversation is with the Supplier and not the Manufacturer. UK Trading Standards legislation is very clear on that. You have a right to refund, replacement or repair. If you opt for repair then the other two options disappear, so be very careful what you agree with the seller.

If the seller won't budge you could take it to Amazon's arbitration (how did you pay for it, PayPal or Credit Card?) for a refund, they'll claw the money back from the seller.

I don't think you'll have very much luck with Huawei if they don't have a UK presence or outsource looking after post sales service. And that is worrying in itself.

[StevieW]

My first thought is that your conversation is with the Supplier and not the Manufacturer. UK Trading Standards legislation is very clear on that. You have a right to refund, replacement or repair. If you opt for repair then the other two options disappear, so be very careful what you agree with the seller.

If the seller won't budge you could take it to Amazon's arbitration (how did you pay for it, PayPal or Credit Card?) for a refund, they'll claw the money back from the seller.

I don't think you'll have very much luck with Huawei if they don't have a UK presence or outsource looking after post sales service. And that is worrying in itself.

Thanks for the reply and I agree the seller is liable but in the first instance it seemed to be an easy thing to go to the manufacturer especially as it is registered with them. Now I am of a mind to go to Amazon to resolve as surprise, surprise no response from the seller (think I will give him a couple more days) and yes it was bought on my credit card so that should not be an issue.

As for a product retail outlet for Huawei in the UK outside of Service providers is a concern.