Voice Quality Issue

[sublime187]

Noise Cancellation is off, and my sound is still horrendous (New sim turned out not to work). I have another handset coming on Tuesday, but after this influx of sound issues I'm very close to returning this thing if the problems persist.

i'm on my 4th atrix right now, and 3rd sim card. exact same issues every time.

seems to me like it could be one of two things:

1) there is large batch of defective phones out there

2) maybe it only sounds good with very, very strong signal strength?


whatever it is, this is a major disappointment. at this point, i think i'm going to wait it out and hope for a fix or maybe a refurb exchange down the line.


... also...

holding the phone at JUST the right angle seems to help me sound better. obviously, this doesn't do a damn thing to make the other caller sound better though..

 

[ggong5150]

Just curious, but have any of the previous posters put a case or screen protector on their Atrix? I was looking at cases for mine and noticed that some of the designs looked like they would block the mic (it's that tiny slit just below the front screen). I have only heard positive feedback from everyone regarding Atrix sound quality, but I have not installed a case or screen protector yet.

I'm using the Otterbox Commuter case in which it goes right under the microphone. There hasn't been much in cases or screen protectors as others have pointed out that the Atrix was released early from it's original March 6th release. So I'm sure by then you'll see a lot more come to market.

 

[lantern212]

i'm on my 4th atrix right now, and 3rd sim card. exact same issues every time.

seems to me like it could be one of two things:

1) there is large batch of defective phones out there

2) maybe it only sounds good with very, very strong signal strength?


whatever it is, this is a major disappointment. at this point, i think i'm going to wait it out and hope for a fix or maybe a refurb exchange down the line.


... also...

holding the phone at JUST the right angle seems to help me sound better. obviously, this doesn't do a damn thing to make the other caller sound better though..

Ouch...I would almost want to see what the Thunderbolt is like; plus I'm down for switching to Verizon's network. I have until the 15th to cancel my contract so I'm gonna see what happens this week and decide later.

 

[lordratner]

I cant speak to every issue, but my phone had the "muffled/mumbling" issues described here.

I went to the ATT store and they replaced the SIM card. oddly, the SIM cards at ATT stored are different than the ones shipped with new phones.

Problem solved. And the ATT rep said they have that problem a lot, and have no idea why some SIM cards are better than others.

But considering the card is supposed to encode the transmissions, it is plausable that a crummy card could effect audio quality.

But most importantly, it worked, so at least give it a shot.

 

[sublime187]

I cant speak to every issue, but my phone had the "muffled/mumbling" issues described here.

I went to the ATT store and they replaced the SIM card. oddly, the SIM cards at ATT stored are different than the ones shipped with new phones.

Problem solved. And the ATT rep said they have that problem a lot, and have no idea why some SIM cards are better than others.

But considering the card is supposed to encode the transmissions, it is plausable that a crummy card could effect audio quality.

But most importantly, it worked, so at least give it a shot.

do you have the blue and white sim card with 3G in orange?

i'm on my third one of these. no luck.

 

[Jonneh]

do you have the blue and white sim card with 3G in orange?

i'm on my third one of these. no luck.

The SIM that came with my atrix (from the AT&T store in person, not online) is blue and orange, not blue and white.
They called it the new "4G" SIM I believe, even though we all know 4G isn't deployed yet

 

[sublime187]

does it say 4G on it? All the new ones I've seen say 3G.

 

[Jonneh]

Actually it doesn't say any G on it lol.
Okay, more specifically - one side is completely orange with the rectangle golden contact thing - the other side is orange on one half and blue on the other half, and has AT&T's logo with the white sphere & blue ribbons around it. Above the logo there's also a bunch of numbers stretching across the SIM card in its entirety, from left to right.

So, I don't know what SIM card I have, but it's the new one they gave me when I bought the phone.

 

[sublime187]

blue/white 3G sim card is the culprit?

I wonder if the old sim cards are the culprit. I've used 3 different. "3G" sins on 4 different attic and always had muffled calls.

Can others please state which sim you have and whether or not you experience. The call quality issues please.

 

[Jonneh]

For the record, I haven't had anyone tell me to repeat myself, but I also haven't made very many calls (I don't call much). I'm going to test it and report back to this thread later today in hopes of clearing up this SIM card/speaker confusion for us all. =)

 

[lantern212]

Got a second Atrix, inserted my second SIM from the original phone to the new one. Turned off noise suppression. Call so far have been good; will report after a couple days.

 

[Uncle_Chet]

I originally used the old sim card from my iPhone 3G in the Atrix I bought last week. Like some others, I experienced an issue with people I called telling me my voice did not sound clear. Based on posts in this thread, I went to the AT&T store and asked for a new sim card. The new sim card is orange on one side and half blue and half white on the other side. (The blue/white side is exposed when you remove the battery cover.) The new sim card says "3G" on it. I did not experience an improvement in call quality with the new sim card. Today I went back to the store and tried a new Atrix handset (with my same new sim card). I made a couple of test calls with inconclusive results - my wife said I sounded better, but still sort of like I was in a cave. The other person said I sounded "fine". (I called my wife from the salesperson's HTC EVO on Sprint and she said I sounded "great".) I really don't want to settle for mediocre voice quality. I suppose I will continue monitoring this thread and also try to get my hands on a 4G sim card before I give up on the Atrix and try the Inspire 4G or iPhone 4.

 

[Jonneh]

I can't figure out why the SIM that came with my Atrix is orange on one side, but orange and BLUE on the other side. All of you are saying your SIMS are half orange and half white on one side. Mine's orange on one side and then on the other it's half orange, half blue. I'll edit this with a picture in a few minutes.

edit: Here are some ugly, pixelated pictures for everyone's viewing pleasure.
As you can see, it appears mine is orange and blue, and I don't see 3G or 4G anywhere. If you find it, point it out to me

 

[sublime187]

my sim card looks like this:

http://cdn2.iofferphoto.com/img/item/172/362/069/g_att-at-t-sim-card-unlock-iphone-3gs-gsm-pda-cell-phone-720a4.jpg

i haven't yet tried one from the post above. i wonder if that's the issue.



just called the ATT store. apparently they don't have the new sim cards yet. she said they should have them within a couple weeks.

 

[glk#WN]

Att just sent me a new sim card, apparently the new sim cards have 4026 printed on the contact side of the sim at least thats my take

 

[sublime187]

just called ATT.

they're going to send me the new sim card with free priority shipping.

make sure to confirm the SKU# 73057 of the new cards.



desperately hoping this is the cure!

 

[Jonneh]

Cool, glad I could give back to the community & help out.

 

[glk#WN]

I just switched over to the newer sim card and it doesnt appear to have made any difference, I phoned someone before and after the change and they said I sounded the same which is low and muffled. My buddy said, "you wouldn't want to have a conversation this way."
Oh well, I'll probably go back to the iphone tomorrow.

 

[sublime187]

I just switched over to the newer sim card and it doesnt appear to have made any difference, I phoned someone before and after the change and they said I sounded the same which is low and muffled. My buddy said, "you wouldn't want to have a conversation this way."
Oh well, I'll probably go back to the iphone tomorrow.

does your new card look like the one jonneh posted? and have SKU# 73057?

 

[glk#WN]

Same exact one