Problem with 6101 and Orange UK: phone silently gets stuck

Hello, I have a Nokia 6101 and I've twice experienced an incredibly
annoying problem with it (to use mild words).
I did a good search with google but I didn't find anything. A perusal of
Nokia's web site and forum didn't help either.
First of all, I must say that the phone was originally bought in Italy
(from Telecom Italia Mobile) and then moved to England, where I'm using
it with Orange UK. I exchanged the SIMs and it worked fine at once
(i.e., the phone is unlocked), so I assumed everything was OK.

The problem I mentioned is as follows: the phone appears to work
normally and reports good strength for the signal BUT if people actually
try to call me the phone doesn't ring at all and (so I've been told) is
seen as switched off.
Furthermore -- and even worse -- apparently they are also unable to text
me (the text is somehow rejected, I don't know the exact error message
other people get). Also, if I try to call or text someone while the
phone is in this zombie state it doesn't work (sorry I didn't write down
the exact error message I got).
In fact trying to use the phone is the only way of knowing that
something is wrong. I've been using this phone for about a month and
this thing has happened (as far as I know!) twice, once just a few days
after I first got the phone, and the second time yesterday (which caused
an untold amount of distress as I was waiting for an important call).
Switching the phone off and then on again solved the problem in both
cases, so I assume is some sort of firmware problem, possibly a minor
incompatibility between my phone/firmware and Orange Uk.
Has anybody come across a problem like this? What should I do?
Any feedback would be very welcome, because otherwise I'll have to do
sample calls every 15 minutes just to check that the phone is working
properly!

This are the details of my firmware, as given by *#0000#:
Nokia 6101
V 04.50
RM-76
(c) Nokia.
Language: V 04.50
19-12-05
RM-76

Thanks, Lorenzo

Lorents wrote:

<snip>

> The problem I mentioned is as follows: the phone appears to work
> normally and reports good strength for the signal BUT if people actually
> try to call me the phone doesn't ring at all and (so I've been told) is
> seen as switched off.
> Furthermore -- and even worse -- apparently they are also unable to text
> me (the text is somehow rejected, I don't know the exact error message
> other people get). Also, if I try to call or text someone while the
> phone is in this zombie state it doesn't work (sorry I didn't write down
> the exact error message I got).

<snip>

I don't know why it happens but Orange used to do that to me too.

It seemed like they did it to me periodically (a day or 2 every 6-8
months) on every phone I bought off them over the 8years I was with them.

--
Douglas

Not sure if the NSU (http://www.nokia.co.uk/A4226014) will work with
your unit but see if any info will be of use to you at
http://www.nokia.co.uk/A4222165
Hope this helps! If not, perhaps you could take it to your local Nokia
Service Centre (http://www.apps.nokia.co.uk/clubnokiaservice).

Douglas Payne wrote:
> Lorents wrote:
>
> <mega snip>
>
> I don't know why it happens but Orange used to do that to me too.
>
> It seemed like they did it to me periodically (a day or 2 every 6-8
> months) on every phone I bought off them over the 8years I was with them.
>

Uhm, that's interesting. Do you remember what phone you were using?
I suspect that this issue may be due to some sort of bug in Orange's
operation software. But then, it'd be strange they haven't updated it in
8 years. I read all of the online Nokia and Orage documentation and
FAQs, but I didn't find anything pertinent. I also posted on Nokia's
support forum, but so far I've got no replies. No firmware updates seems
to be available for my model. The unreproducibility of the problem
doesn't help the troubleshooting process, either.
I imagine I could try to take the phone to a Nokia and/or Orange support
centre, but I have little hope they'll know that to do (besides
suggesting I should buy another phone!)

Lorenzo

Lorents wrote:
> Douglas Payne wrote:
>
>> Lorents wrote:
>>
>> <mega snip>
>>
>> I don't know why it happens but Orange used to do that to me too.
>>
>> It seemed like they did it to me periodically (a day or 2 every 6-8
>> months) on every phone I bought off them over the 8years I was with them.
>>
>
> Uhm, that's interesting. Do you remember what phone you were using?

I remember it happening while using Motorola C520, Sony CD5e, Sony J5e,
Ericsson T65 SE T300, Nokia 6230 and SE K600i. They were all Orange
branded handsets, except the T65 which was unlocked from Virgin.

It was annoying and sometimes it would still happen if I turned the
phone off and on again. Removing the battery with the handset still on
would usually but not always cure it.

> I suspect that this issue may be due to some sort of bug in Orange's
> operation software. But then, it'd be strange they haven't updated it in
> 8 years. I read all of the online Nokia and Orage documentation and
> FAQs, but I didn't find anything pertinent. I also posted on Nokia's
> support forum, but so far I've got no replies. No firmware updates seems
> to be available for my model. The unreproducibility of the problem
> doesn't help the troubleshooting process, either.
> I imagine I could try to take the phone to a Nokia and/or Orange support
> centre, but I have little hope they'll know that to do (besides
> suggesting I should buy another phone!)

Yeah, dunno. My ISP has short outages from time to time, I don't pay a
lot for t'internet so I don't expect them to have 100% uptime even
though it's very annoying when it happens.

--
Douglas