AT&T Community Forums

Sony Ericsson W518a "No access to net" error

I just upgraded from a W300i to a W518a last weekend. Three times over the past two days, the new phone has displayed the message "No access to net" at the top of the screen, despite a signal indicator of 3 to 4 bars. The phone will not then receive or send calls. The only way I've been able to get it working again has been to power it off, then back on.

Has anyone else encountered this problem, and perhaps found a solution?

I Googled only one other posting describing these symptoms, but it was not on this forum, and it had no resolution.

The new phone is in the same position where the old phone worked fine. (The W300i sometimes dropped or failed to receive calls, but it never went fully offline. I hoped, if anything, the new phone would hold its signal better.)

Any thoughts about whether to look for a software update? Or if the phone is defective, return or exchange it with AT&T while it's still in the 30-day initial period?

Responses

DavidR

Teacher

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7 Messages

13 years ago

Thank you hme83 -- "My Phone Explorer" works great with the W518a. I like the interface better and may be able to stop using PC Suite altogether. And it does have a selection for GSM only. I'll see whether that prevents the problem, though as I said before -- that would be just a workaround since, even in G3 mode, the phone should not give up and completely stop trying to connect with the network. If disabling G3 improves battery life, I'll see that as a benefit since I personally have no use for G3.

I've added a dummy data account. Not sure I did it right, but I think I've set it up in a way that will disable MediaNet and prevent accidental charges.

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hme83

Master

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5.9K Messages

13 years ago

@DavidR wrote:
Thank you hme83 -- "My Phone Explorer" works great with the W518a. I like the interface better and may be able to stop using PC Suite altogether. And it does have a selection for GSM only. I'll see whether that prevents the problem, though as I said before -- that would be just a workaround since, even in G3 mode, the phone should not give up and completely stop trying to connect with the network. If disabling G3 improves battery life, I'll see that as a benefit since I personally have no use for G3.

I've added a dummy data account. Not sure I did it right, but I think I've set it up in a way that will disable MediaNet and prevent accidental charges.

Happy to help. 🙂

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DavidR

Teacher

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7 Messages

13 years ago

The replacement phone has arrived and, in a day of usage, has never gone into the "No access to net" the way the original unit did several times a day before I disabled its 3G. So evidently the original unit was defective. (The fact that I found one other posting about this error suggests that the model might be more subject than usual to such a defect.)

It will take me longer to determine whether the new unit has the same poor battery life as the original. After I disabled the original's 3G, using MyPhoneExplorer to switch it to GSM-only mode, both the short battery life and the "No access to net" problems disappeared. I will make the same switch in the new unit only if necessary for battery life, though I really don't care about the ability to use 3G and have disabled its data connections with a dummy MediaNet account.

Thanks again for your help and suggestions.

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