21 November 2011

Garbled speech on mobile in Canberra?

| deakin2600
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For several weeks I have been having trouble with my mobile, though the problem comes and goes for no obvious reason.

Basically, at times I sound garbled or my speech cuts in and out for the person on the other end, however I can hear them just fine and have full signal strength.

At first I thought it was a problem with my phone, but a few other people have mentioned the same thing so I am wondering if there’s another cause out there.

*I am with Virgin Mobile.

Any ideas??

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BimboGeek said :

My ex was on Virgin very early… Back then the word was that the only way to get customer service out of them was to complain on Twitter. Worked for him and all his mates.

I thought there customer service in the olden days was pretty good. But their overseas (Phillipino maybe?) customer service is worse than most. I called them about 10 times from overseas to try get the unlock code for my phone and got absolutely nowhere. Fortunately my mum has a skype phone!

Anywho, about the garbled messages, I’ll let you know if I get them with my Telstra service. Though it could still be caused by the actual phone. Changing both is not a valid experiment…

My ex was on Virgin very early… Back then the word was that the only way to get customer service out of them was to complain on Twitter. Worked for him and all his mates.

Reprobate said :

Yep, Virgin sucks the big one(!) in Canberra ATM. Just about to break my contract 6 months early as it seems every second call becomes garbled and sounds like reception is breaking up (even with 4/5 bars of reception and on a call to a landline)..Also been enountering the “alien noise” on connection (search the mobile providers area of whirlpool if you don’t know about it). Trying to get some sort of coherent, intelligible answer on these issues from the droids at the VM “customer service” line is harder than nailing jelly to a revolving door.

Thanks to the OP for posting this and for the comments because it prompted me to finally ditch Virgin and sign up for a better phone with Telstra. That was after I discovered I had been paying a small fortune to Virgin because they don’t offer automatic top-up for pre-paid monthly data and I am notoriously disorganised and so regularly paid for their exorbitant ‘extra’ data charges until I remembered to buy more data. So I’ll be cheaper off with a better phone, more data and better coverage. Yay!

(Sorry that was so OT, but a NEW phone, yay!)

Mr Cholet gets garbled radio using TuneIn Radio App on his bike ride to work. This has been happening for a few weeks now so he just listens to the ipod which is much more dangerous.

Used to happen nearing Woden but has happened in Calwell too.

Hasn’t happened when using phone for calls though to our knowledge.

We are with vodafone.

I thought Virgin had a service to help you avoid drunk dialing?

Yep, Virgin sucks the big one(!) in Canberra ATM. Just about to break my contract 6 months early as it seems every second call becomes garbled and sounds like reception is breaking up (even with 4/5 bars of reception and on a call to a landline)..Also been enountering the “alien noise” on connection (search the mobile providers area of whirlpool if you don’t know about it). Trying to get some sort of coherent, intelligible answer on these issues from the droids at the VM “customer service” line is harder than nailing jelly to a revolving door.

I had a bizarre garbling on my phone the other day (but only one way, the other person could hear me fine), that lasted several minutes, including callbacks. I’m with Telstra.

sarahsarah said :

Could have something to do with where you are and which provider your with. When my partner and I first moved into our new suburb (Franklin) we were with 3 and could only get reception on our mobiles if we stood at the front door with it open. It sucked – especially on those chilly Canberra nights! And woe betide if one of us got a call while the other was already on one, they would both just drop out. When we made the switch to Telstra it was magic – reception anywhere in the house with or without the door open! 🙂

That’s an unusual case, as 3 use telstra’s towers, and gennerally have service wherever telstra does, I was with 3 for 2 years, and they are on of the only ones that can get service out where we lived (just finnished moving back to the ACT now) behind braidwood, due to the only tower being telstra, mind you, i cant say it’s surprising, i have heard simialr stories.

I gennerally had absolutly no problem with 3, on a technical level, or when dealingwith them. However, recently, as they swap everything slowly to Vodaphone, it’s all gone to sh*t, the people are horrible to deal with, and the service is just getting poorer and poorer, particuarly in the city, where i seem to be forever roaming.

this, combined with the fact i swore a long time ago never to have anything to do with voda, has moved me on to a new carrier, so I’m about to find out what they are like (fingers crossed) as it is, I am now only with 3/voda till the new handset and sim arrive later this week.

Rawhide Kid Part31:52 pm 21 Nov 11

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

ma7trlb said :

You’re with Virgin Mobile.

Well there’s your problem……..

Rawhide Kid Part3 said :

ma7trlb said :

You’re with Virgin Mobile.

Well there’s your problem……..

Seriously though. It could be because Virgin’s provider’s network is overloaded.

Rawhide Kid Part31:43 pm 21 Nov 11

ma7trlb said :

You’re with Virgin Mobile.

Well there’s your problem……..

I’d be using an old phone, to isolate the problem

Could have something to do with where you are and which provider your with. When my partner and I first moved into our new suburb (Franklin) we were with 3 and could only get reception on our mobiles if we stood at the front door with it open. It sucked – especially on those chilly Canberra nights! And woe betide if one of us got a call while the other was already on one, they would both just drop out. When we made the switch to Telstra it was magic – reception anywhere in the house with or without the door open! 🙂

maybe dont talk on your phone while driving 😛
Just kidding…my partner has that issue but with 3. I had the issue with my old phone (handset) so changed that…problem sorted.

Watson said :

ma7trlb said :

You’re with Virgin Mobile.

Haha, yes! I’m with them too and they suck big time. I get the garbled voice. I now immediately hang up and call back. And reception has been totally pitiful in the past couple of months.

I am trying to get a new provider but I have not been able to get the unlock code for my phone from Virgin. Because their customer service people (and complaints dep’t) clearly have to have an IQ below 80 to apply for the job. And they do not seem to have a customer database, so none of the very long and murederously frustrating calls get logged. As far as they are concerned my 20 phone calls to get the effing unlock code never happened.

I think eventually I will just buy a new phone.

It’ll work on the Optus network. They suck though.

If it’s an iPhone, just jailbreak it and you can defeat the network lock… Then again they also have shit reception compared to other phones so may be your problem in the first place

ma7trlb said :

You’re with Virgin Mobile.

Haha, yes! I’m with them too and they suck big time. I get the garbled voice. I now immediately hang up and call back. And reception has been totally pitiful in the past couple of months.

I am trying to get a new provider but I have not been able to get the unlock code for my phone from Virgin. Because their customer service people (and complaints dep’t) clearly have to have an IQ below 80 to apply for the job. And they do not seem to have a customer database, so none of the very long and murederously frustrating calls get logged. As far as they are concerned my 20 phone calls to get the effing unlock code never happened.

I think eventually I will just buy a new phone.

You’re with Virgin Mobile.

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