Took the plunge - but have an issue

[Alex Dean]

I live in the UK and, up until recently, I was a Lumia 920 owner which I was very happy with - it was a fantastic phone and truth be told I am sad to see it go. However, tech media and this forum have been teasing me with the 1020 since it was announced, and I wanted nothing more than to own one. I am a keen photographer as a hobby and wanted to expand my repertoire with what the 1020 can offer in versatility.

I started trawling eBay looking for a 64GB model; since I am going to be taking lots of photos with it and will be using it as my daily driver until my contract expires in August and will hopefully pick up an 8.1 device, I need as much storage as possible. I managed to find one, which I believe is one of the models given out at the launch event, as it says "Telefonica London 2013 #64GB1020" on the back of it (see photo). A sucker for limited edition items, I couldn't resist:



I turn it on, restore backups etc and, since it is an O2 exclusive in the UK, I assumed that it would be locked to that carrier and I would need an unlock code. However, I checked the settings and noticed that the phone carries the generic GB country variant firmware (I should have realised when there was no O2 splash screen on boot up). Intrigued, I tried inserting my current Virgin Mobile SIM and, to my pleasant surprise, it worked! No unlock codes required!

However, therein lies my problem, which I am hoping someone here has experience with and can help out. The SIM works fine; I can make calls and receive texts without issue, however the phone can only achieve a maximum data connection of H, when I should be getting 3G (my EE-branded 920 was connected at 3G+ with the same SIM more often than not). It has briefly flicked on to H+ but only for a few seconds. I believe it is an Access Point issue from what I can gather from internet searches but I'm not having any luck with it. All system apps have been updated and Lumia Black is already on the device.

On the whole I am delighted with the phone, I just wish I could get my 3G connection back... any thoughts?

 

[hope4wp]

did you hard reset the phone before restoring the backups?

 

[Alex Dean]

The phone had already been hard reset when I turned it on for the first time; do you suggest I do another one?

 

[Shinigami910]

I looked into the symbols a while back and what they meant. Currently the symbols you can get displayed are either E,G,3G,H,H+ in my research it turns out both H and H+ are slightly improved 3G signals. So you currently are getting 3G. Here is the windows phone website that explains it (couldn't find where i originally read it) www.windowsphone.com/en-gb/how-to/wp8/basics/what-do-the-icons-on-my-phone-mean

 

[Shinigami910]

Sorry forgot to mention 4G if you are currently in an area in the UK that gets it.

 

[Nakazul]

Do you notice any difference in speeds compared to the 920? I'm just thinking out loud here, that maybe it displays connections wrong but it is connected right? In Sweden when connected to 3G it mostly says H+ so I have never given the symbols that much attention. We have 4G now where I live so of its been a while since I used 3G.

 

[hope4wp]

The phone had already been hard reset when I turned it on for the first time; do you suggest I do another one?

I would suggest but does it show H+? your internet works? if it does then do a speed test and see whether it's on 3G or not.
HSPA (3G/H): Theoretical limit of 14Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up
HSPA+ (3.5G/H+): Theoretical limit of 84Mbps down, 22Mbps up, but will support 168Mbps down.
Maybe you are not getting the network....try to keep it on 4G and connect?

 

[Alex Dean]

Ahh, you are all right; I wasn't aware that H was the same and/or better than a 3G connection, so that's panic over for me; I suppose either Lumia Black or the 1020 displays connectivity differently than I'm used to on my 920. That makes me really happy, thank you for all your help, I'm off to enjoy my new phone!

?340 delivered for an as new, 64Gb unlocked 1020 was a steal.

 

[ssjmec]

Ahh, you are all right; I wasn't aware that H was the same and/or better than a 3G connection, so that's panic over for me; I suppose either Lumia Black or the 1020 displays connectivity differently than I'm used to on my 920. That makes me really happy, thank you for all your help, I'm off to enjoy my new phone!

?340 delivered for an as new, 64Gb unlocked 1020 was a steal.

Wow. Definitely. How I wish I had an offer like that. Enjoy!

 

[Alex Dean]

I certainly will It was an offer I really couldn't pass up even though I was perfectly happy with my 920. Hopefully I can find a good home for it, in the meantime I can't wait to get to grips with the camera on the 1020!