TomTom 720 Phone Buzzing Problem

nheather · Regular Visitor Joined: Nov 02, 2005 Posts: 67

With my 720 I experienced the pronblem where my bluetooth phone would connect and make calls but the person at the other end could only hear buzz and very faint voice.

I've read that this may be a common fault rather than an isolated case but TomTom deny any knowledge.

Anyway I returned it to the retailer for replacement but as they were out of stock they refunded my money instead.

So I now have the opportunity to buy another 720 or something else.

I'm a little bit weary of buying another 720 because of the possibility that the fault may be common place.

Can anyone here confirm whether my fault was isolated or whether I'm likely to experience it in the replacement.

The 730 is another option but one slight niggle is that I have bought a remote for my 720 which I'm pretty sure won't work with the 730.

Cheers,

Nigel

Andy_P · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 11:55 am Post subject:

IT WAS a common fault, but I haven't heard people complaining of it recently, so it may have been ironed out.
For TomTom to deny all knowledge of it is scandalous, but just what we've come to expect from their dreadful customer "support".

I think DennisN is the expert on buzzing handsfree, he should be along soon!

DennisN · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject:

Bluetooth is a beast with the x20s - it was perfect with my GO700. I think I only had a couple with buzzing. My main trouble was the call being crashed, leaving me with a fast, loud repetitive noise. That problem has never gone away - I went through seven GO720s, keeping the last two and a GO920T. It's an intermittent thing which I have decided to put up with - but it's very inconvenient when it happens in the middle of a business call. And it locks the GO, then on reset, it loses the current route and recent destination. When you're doing 70 down the motorway, reset button is not an easy option. Having three devices on the windscreen (and a wire headset in the glovebox) I can live with it. I shouldn't have to and nor should you.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Tomo · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 2:29 pm Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject:

A solution was posted, which involved doing Clear Flash, Checkdisk and full formatting (not quick format) - NOT for the fainthearted and NOT for anybody who hasn't got zillions of backups done using Windows Explorer.

I was happy because it cured it for me - UNTIL THE NEXT TIME IT HAPPENED!! Evil or Very Mad

I go days without, then a day or two with it crashing my device twice or three times a day. I can survive because I have two other devices to cover for the navigating until I can stop to do a reset and input the destination etc again (you can't do that on the Motorway, nor on a Red Route in London) - I sometimes even have to reconfigure the camera warnings. Back in the early days, I got prompt exchanges from Halfords after I recorded the bedlam on my mobile phone and played it back to them.

So now I put up with it - the rest of the machine is good enough to persuade me to keep it. During the exchanges period, I once found myself with only one GO on my windscreen and I was in permanent withdrawal!!
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

Tomo · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject:

Thats great news then, not.

I have finally managed to get everything else working on this one, god knows how though.

My wife just shrugs her shoulders at me now, why dont they just work out the box?

Anyway, if this one plays up too much then it will be going back for a refund (I have already told halfords this knowing that they shouldnt do refunds on them but I think they guy will, he see's im pretty annoyed)

May have to go to the dark side and get a high end garmin.

Steve

DennisN · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 3:37 pm Post subject:

Thermocline · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 6:56 pm Post subject:

I've had several bluetooth hands-free kits which had the same problem. Generally though the problems was caused by the phone being too close to the bluetooth device. GSM phones have a very aggressive modulation system which is why they can often be heard interfering with audio equipment or other devices. When the phone is too close to the bluetooth device, it's possible that the phone will cause interference to that device.

It's common also that the amount of power being radiated by a phone changes as it gets further away from the nearest cell. The further away from a cell, the higher the power. This will also have an effect on the amount of interference being generated. The worst case is a phone close to a bluetooth device but also far away from the nearest phone cell.

The result of this interference is a constant buzzing noise either on the received or transmitted audio. For my hands-free kit, the problem was with the audio I was sending. All the other person could hear was a constant buzz and very little speech. The cure was to make sure the phone was away from the bluetooth hands-free device by more than a few feet.

I also found that some phones were worse than others. My current phone (a works Nokia 6021) does not interfer with the audio on my TT720 at all, even if it's close. I would suggest you try moving the phone further away from the TT and see if that does the trick.

Thermocline

DennisN · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject:

Tomo · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject:

............ and thinking about it, a few BT devices I have bought recently (the jawbone PHF for instance) suggest that you should have line of sight between devices even though BT is an RF communication.

Steve

HummerUK · Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject:

My 520 went back to TT for repair as did many other peoples...

From what I recall it was some FET that had to be replaced.

Unit was fixed and back in under seven days.

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=62743&highlight=buzz

HummerUK

nheather · Regular Visitor Joined: Nov 02, 2005 Posts: 67

Maybe something in that but my 700 hands free works without a fault (have never had the slightest problem), whilst the 720 was buzzing all the time not matter which phone I used.

I have used the same phone on the 700 and 720 for true comparision.

Cheers,

Nigel

AndyVaughan · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject:

I am on my 5th unit, the first three had this buzzing problem (One 520 and 2 720s).

I used various phones and my phone was always in the same place - in the centre console.

My 920T has never suffered from this problem with the same phones in the same place in the car.

I reckon it is a hardware problem.

Andy

LuRcH · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 13, 2005 Posts: 5

My 520 had the buzzing problem I contacted TomTom and gave them a long list of sites listing the issue people where having, and they gave me an RMA number straight away and fixed the issue. The report when I got it back was a slightly cryptic "fix cosmetic issue". How buzzing on Bluetooth could be classed as cosmetic I don't know...

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