Related
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
ccampbell1 said:
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
farfromovin said:
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
farfromovin,
I agree it's a complete pain why one model can't work worldwide - or even between carriers in one country, the US!! I'm not sure that all the revisions are the exact same hardware though. Certainly the different revisions will support different LTE bands from one another, different 3G bands (ie T-Mobile USA) and even different technologies (VZW, Sprint, US Cellular CDMA). Whether there is one uber radio chip that's the same in all versions, with different bits enabled here and there, I don't know. I would doubt that a chip currently exists to support all GSM, UMTS, LTE and CDMA bands in the one, but you never know.
I really cannot wait (getting super sick of it) until T-Mobile's 1900MHz refarming, and finally all UMTS/HSPA phones will work on pretty much any UMTS/HSPA network worldwide. But just as we finally get 3G harmony, LTE comes along with a zillion different bands, and we're back to where we were at the start of GSM, and the start of UMTS - all over again.
As far as getting the GT-N7100 to work on T-Mobile AWS bands - unless the radio supports that band somewhere, and can be enabled by some hacky flashing, I don't think there's much chance. I followed a thread for a while which was trying to do that for the original GT-N7000 and it ended up nowhere unfortunately.
I'd be very, very surprised if the T-Mobile US official Note II did not support DC-HSPA +42. Given how TMO pushes that, I don't think they'd sell a phone without it these days. I'm kind of surprised the GT-N7100 doesn't have it, to be honest, but I guess it's not yet that widespread, and most carriers will bypass it to go to LTE.
Cheers!
Ars-Hexis said:
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
ccampbell1 said:
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there! Sorry I hadn't answered in such a long time. We'll actually I've found that the S3 (sold it) and the Note 2 (own it) some how cannot be tracked for data usage correctly by straight talk. It's quite interesting... I ported my number over from T-Mobile, so if you have an S3 with a T-mobile prepaid sim... I think you have nothing to lose! I'm in Dallas and regularly get around 3-4Mbits/S during high usage hours and 6-7Mbits/S after 7 pm when network usage goes down.
There have been 2 occasions over the past 2 months where I'm throttled for like an hour and suddenly it gets uncapped on its own (?!?!?) lol. Last month I used about 25 GB... It's insane. Btw, if you if get throttled for real (happened to me once), you can just call them and say your "Internets is slow" (act technologically challenged) and they'll reset it.
Ah 1 last thing: I got the at&T ST sim card when I switched.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app
I just got my International Note 2 today, and I am using it on the T-Mobile network also. I am seeing that I am roaming but my data is off and I am just using wifi. I have turned off my phone and back on again and its still showing. But after reading this whole thread I am getting that is a bug or something along those lines is that correct? Thanks.
I really need to know
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
roaming
I am on prepaid tmobile and I have Roaming sign only in areas where I used to loose signal with my old phone . Basically when I go in Garage underground my signal starts getting weaker and weaker and then roaming kiks in and signal is up all the way . T-mobile does not charges for local roaming . If you use USA tmobile and you are in usa you are fine . My texts and voice are still the same rate for me . When I had Chinese rom it was showing all the time , now I flashed German t-mobile and R shows only sometime , but it does not bother me .
Hope this helps .
I too have a Note II (GT-N7100) I purchased in Thailand in December. I use it on the T-Mobile network and have the same issues with the "R" symbol. I am located in Tampa Bay area, Florida.
T-Mobile was indicating to me in January that this was an issue in weaker signal areas for their data network as they prepare to refarm it. Don't know if this explanation is entirely accurate, but I find in my local area that the R symbol goes away in certain areas and it behaves "normally". This includes the area where my T-Mobile office is located. It seems to be somewhat of a patchwork network, and for some reasons certain areas cause it to go into the Roaming mode.
I was just on a trip with stops in Los Amgeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia and noted the same behavior in some of those cities: Getting normal signal indications in some places, and Roaming in others.
Hello,
I appeal to all the users that have samsung galaxy s4 mini duos (i9192) to give me a honest opinion on their experience usage about this issue
I want to buy the phone because i have 2 sims, work and home and need both always on but i've been read that this phone has major problems with network signal such as:
"Poor network performance. I'm forced to restart 4 to 5 times per day to regain the network access. I checked from my service providers, no issues on their part. Dual Sim a failure. Apart from network issues, the design, ram performance are average. I'll recommend not to buy this instrument unless the dual-sim network problem is rectified."
Like this, there are many more in samsung phone forum.
Anyone can give me their opinion?
False. I'm using it without problems with two sims work/private. Signal strength may be lower, but it's not so bad. Device is very fast, in antutu it has more points than 4 core htc one x+ or galaxy s3.
Software is bit buggy, but nothing serious.
Wysłane z mojego GT-I9192
mar10o said:
False. I'm using it without problems with two sims work/private. Signal strength may be lower, but it's not so bad. Device is very fast, in antutu it has more points than 4 core htc one x+ or galaxy s3.
Software is bit buggy, but nothing serious.
Wysłane z mojego GT-I9192
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick answer.
Yes, i have read many reviews and all shows very good results. But if you go to http://reviews.in.samsung.com/7463-en_in/GT-I9192ZWAINU/samsung-galaxy-s4-mini-reviews/reviews.htm you will see the very bad opinions.
Seems that the phone in bad coverage areas lost signal and don't regain signal unless you restart the phone or the network. Have you already been in bad coverage areas?
It will regain signal. For example yesterday - I was in underground parking lot and signal was very poor to none, but somehow I've got the incoming call when moving to other spot.
Maybe it's firmware related. I've updated manually to amh2 version through odin. Mine new csc is ser - Russia
Wysłane z mojego GT-I9192
Anyone else that has not experienced this problems?
I would like to know this also, I'm considering buying it solely because of the "Dual Sim" but I keep reading lots of people complaining about the signal issues.
I dont have any problems with my I9192 been in my hands for 2 months by now the network problem you describe it's very rare just couple of times since I've been using it but I've turn on and off airplane mode
for me it's a really good phone
Sent from my GT-I9192 using Tapatalk 4
Same problem
I also have the duos version. Once the signal is lost/falls in the dead spot region, it doesn't come back a automatically. Fed up with this.. after buying such a high end phone, restarting all the time to get network! What is the use of fast processor and all stuff if we can't make a phone call with it? And after reading the comments on the below page, it is clear that this is a known issue of the model:
gsmarena.com/samsung_i9190_galaxy_s4_mini-reviews-5375.php
Any solution for this? The handset has turned out to be useless.
I have not had a problem like this with mine, it works perfect. I live in a bad signal area and if I go down stairs in my house the phone will lose the signal , when I go back up stairs the phone always regains the signal with no problems.
I can't fault this phone, it's ten times better than my last one, HTC Desire V
fburgos said:
I dont have any problems with my I9192 been in my hands for 2 months by now the network problem you describe it's very rare just couple of times since I've been using it but I've turn on and off airplane mode
for me it's a really good phone
Sent from my GT-I9192 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks,
Only the fact that you mentioned you have to do airplane mode 2 times is just severe enough, because in a phone with this price range that's a problem that should NEVER occur, and you can be the lucky guy that just has good coverage signal all of the time.
I came to the conclusion that it happens with much moore models than the ones that not happen.
I'm going to order the phone even with this feedback hoping that i have a flash of luck and my phone doesn't have the problems, because i've been waiting months for a dual sim phone with top performance and this seems to be the ideal phone to me.
I will post my experience here, if anything goes wrong i will try to sell it.
grajeshg said:
I also have the duos version. Once the signal is lost/falls in the dead spot region, it doesn't come back a automatically. Fed up with this.. after buying such a high end phone, restarting all the time to get network! What is the use of fast processor and all stuff if we can't make a phone call with it? And after reading the comments on the below page, it is clear that this is a known issue of the model:
gsmarena.com/samsung_i9190_galaxy_s4_mini-reviews-5375.php
Any solution for this? The handset has turned out to be useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i totally agree with you.
I don't know how a brand like Samsung brings to the market a phone in this price range with these problems. And worst, dont't give a solution to them. Did you try to contact Samsung or use the warranty with them?
Same Issue with Samsung GT-I9192
Hi All,
I am facing the same issue with my Samsung GT-I9192, which I purchased on 1st Sep.
I am using 2 simcards, one being Vodafone and the other Idea, India region.
Surprisingly the issue is only with Vodafone, where the signal after dropping (very frequently) does not refresh.
In case of Idea simcard, the signal refresh is working fine.
I am not able to understand if the problem is with the service provider, sim card, hardware or the software.
I used my vodafone simcard with Galaxy Core (another dual sim phones), and they seem to work fine,
which gets me all the more confused.
The only difference that I notice is in the Mobile Network Type.
Its EDGE:2 for Vodafone and UMTS:3 for Idea, wonder if this has got anything to do with the network issues.
I did the default available 2 firmware upgrades since purchase, they seem to have worsened the problems.
Let me know if you are facing the same issue, with the same service provider.
Need to keep a close watch on the solution, as it seems to be affecting more people than expected, surprisingly couldn't find any issues a month back during the time of purchase....
Regards,
Varun
varun_b said:
Hi All,
I am facing the same issue with my Samsung GT-I9192, which I purchased on 1st Sep.
I am using 2 simcards, one being Vodafone and the other Idea, India region.
Surprisingly the issue is only with Vodafone, where the signal after dropping (very frequently) does not refresh.
In case of Idea simcard, the signal refresh is working fine.
I am not able to understand if the problem is with the service provider, sim card, hardware or the software.
I used my vodafone simcard with Galaxy Core (another dual sim phones), and they seem to work fine,
which gets me all the more confused.
The only difference that I notice is in the Mobile Network Type.
Its EDGE:2 for Vodafone and UMTS:3 for Idea, wonder if this has got anything to do with the network issues.
I did the default available 2 firmware upgrades since purchase, they seem to have worsened the problems.
Let me know if you are facing the same issue, with the same service provider.
Need to keep a close watch on the solution, as it seems to be affecting more people than expected, surprisingly couldn't find any issues a month back during the time of purchase....
Regards,
Varun
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case, it's Vodafone also, but is in Western Europe.
My concern is that i have exactily the same problem in my present phone (Sony Tipo Dual) and it's the main reason (along side the big improve of speed and etc) for buying this phone. At the present, people call to me and they say that phone answers occupied (no network signal) and i look to the phone and it shows top signal strenght. I'm beginning to think that dual sim phones with android have some limitations (maybe antenna limitations).
ricjps said:
Hello,
I appeal to all the users that have samsung galaxy s4 mini duos (i9192) to give me a honest opinion on their experience usage about this issue
I want to buy the phone because i have 2 sims, work and home and need both always on but i've been read that this phone has major problems with network signal such as:
"Poor network performance. I'm forced to restart 4 to 5 times per day to regain the network access. I checked from my service providers, no issues on their part. Dual Sim a failure. Apart from network issues, the design, ram performance are average. I'll recommend not to buy this instrument unless the dual-sim network problem is rectified."
Like this, there are many more in samsung phone forum.
Anyone can give me their opinion?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have smiliar problem. I have contacted samsung service center they assured to replace antenna but after 10 days antenna not yet came. So waiting for it. Is this problem is due to hardware or software i am not sure.
---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 PM ----------
ricjps said:
In my case, it's Vodafone also, but is in Western Europe.
My concern is that i have exactily the same problem in my present phone (Sony Tipo Dual) and it's the main reason (along side the big improve of speed and etc) for buying this phone. At the present, people call to me and they say that phone answers occupied (no network signal) and i look to the phone and it shows top signal strenght. I'm beginning to think that dual sim phones with android have some limitations (maybe antenna limitations).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case S4 mini network refresh is not working for secondary sim (aircel India) and working fine for primary sim Tata docomo. I buyed this mobile as it has 1.5 gb RAM with dual sim instead of Nexus 4.
ricjps said:
Thanks,
Only the fact that you mentioned you have to do airplane mode 2 times is just severe enough, because in a phone with this price range that's a problem that should NEVER occur, and you can be the lucky guy that just has good coverage signal all of the time.
I came to the conclusion that it happens with much moore models than the ones that not happen.
I'm going to order the phone even with this feedback hoping that i have a flash of luck and my phone doesn't have the problems, because i've been waiting months for a dual sim phone with top performance and this seems to be the ideal phone to me.
I will post my experience here, if anything goes wrong i will try to sell it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats true it should never occur, i think its implementation problem, android its not mean to be for dual sim phones the solution for dual sim on android its a samsung workarround, it should not be buggy but has some problems it does not make the phone unusable for me, I don't get coverage all the time, I travel from city to city and get poor coverage all the way so i think its not a big issue since it happen just a few times.
sriram.yenchrla said:
I have smiliar problem. I have contacted samsung service center they assured to replace antenna but after 10 days antenna not yet came. So waiting for it. Is this problem is due to hardware or software i am not sure.
---------- Post added at 09:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:29 PM ----------
In my case S4 mini network refresh is not working for secondary sim (aircel India) and working fine for primary sim Tata docomo. I buyed this mobile as it has 1.5 gb RAM with dual sim instead of Nexus 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Sriram,
My problem is very similar, Vodafone on either sim slots gives network problems, and Idea on either sim slots works fine. That makes me think that the problem must be hardware / software related to Network type. Its EDGE2 for vodafone and GPRS1 for Idea. What is the network type of your sim cards?
Phone defect.. Not related to Sim card
ricjps said:
Yes, i totally agree with you.
I don't know how a brand like Samsung brings to the market a phone in this price range with these problems. And worst, dont't give a solution to them. Did you try to contact Samsung or use the warranty with them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Started with an email to CEO, Samsung India. I shall update as I get the reply.
varun_b said:
....I am using 2 simcards, one being Vodafone and the other Idea, India region.
Surprisingly the issue is only with Vodafone, where the signal after dropping (very frequently) does not refresh.
In case of Idea simcard, the signal refresh is working fine.
I am not able to understand if the problem is with the service provider, sim card, hardware or the software.
Regards,
Varun
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..
..
varun_b said:
Hi Sriram,
My problem is very similar, Vodafone on either sim slots gives network problems, and Idea on either sim slots works fine. That makes me think that the problem must be hardware / software related to Network type. Its EDGE2 for vodafone and GPRS1 for Idea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use idea in the first slot and BSNL in the second slot. The trouble occurs with BOTH SIM. Earlier I used idea -Vodafone pair, the problem was still there. I live in am area where all operators have weak/varying coverage. Airtel and aircel have already been reported as showing same problem. All the users are affected with this issue, so it is clear that this has nothing to do with the operator, it is a fault of the phone either hardware or software. I think you have idea Sim working fine only means idea network is better in your area and may not need frequent network cell changeover. (?) And another fact we can see from the reports is, that, almost ALL THE COMPLAINTS have been reported from INDIA where the model released is the duos.
S4 Mini Network issues.
I too have a S4 Mini for less than a month and I am also facing network issues. One thing to notice is that the sim with internet doesn't have issues. Irrespective of which slot it is in. Currently I have Vodafone IN on Sim 1 and Airtel on 2 (with 3G). Airtel works fine and Voda has issues.
I did speak to Samsung care, they were very nice, however the problem wasn't solved, I have been adviced to go to Samsung service center and get the S/w reimaged.
I still haven't done that, however what I did was to reset the phone and while I was browsing on the play store I got a software called "Where is my Signal" by Grey Boy. For some reason I feel it is working fine now. I have not had any issue from last evening, baring one time when I was on a long conf call for around 150 mins today. else it has been working fine and receiving calls on both sims too.
I had used this software to refresh the network once, it has helped me, not sure if this is going to sustain but for now it is good.
If some one else also has this software installed and is finding this to solve the issues kindly post the same on the forum and may be helpful.
Will repost tomorrow again with the status.
BTW I agree to many opinions in this thread that Samsung should have done some testing or atleast after many of these issues coming up needed to provide a patch upgrade.
Regards
HB
Will factory reset work?
Hbalisavira said:
.....however what I did was to reset the phone and while I was browsing on the play store I got a software called "Where is my Signal" by Grey Boy.
Regards
HB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had tried three apps of that kind: where is my signal, network booster(marcstealth), and network refresher lite. None of them could overcome the strange problem of this phone though at first they seemed to be working. Another question is, how do we know when to refresh network? If we know the signal is lost, we can restart or do something like that. Then there is one more issue: sometimes it shows good/full signal strength, but when try to make a call, will realize that it was false! I made to run the network booster app run when signal is low, using tasker app -but we are not supposed to live such a life using this celebrated costly handset.
But one thing in your post is of much importance. DID THAT RESET WORK? You haven't said much about that.
Regards,
Rajesh
grajeshg said:
I had tried three apps of that kind: where is my signal, network booster(marcstealth), and network refresher lite. None of them could overcome the strange problem of this phone though at first they seemed to be working. Another question is, how do we know when to refresh network? If we know the signal is lost, we can restart or do something like that. Then there is one more issue: sometimes it shows good/full signal strength, but when try to make a call, will realize that it was false! I made to run the network booster app run when signal is low, using tasker app -but we are not supposed to live such a life using this celebrated costly handset.
But one thing in your post is of much importance. DID THAT RESET WORK? You haven't said much about that.
Regards,
Rajesh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason for reset was to ensure that none of the softwares I had installed were causing the issue. The reset didn't change much compared to the way it was earlier.
Some observations of when the problem actually happens (again this is my observation and doesn't need to be the same in your case)
> When I am on a long incoming call on the sim which has Internet.
> Noticed that short calls don't impact the network.
> If there is a call drop imm after you receive a call.
I am planning to get the phone firmware re-imaged from the service center however I will need atleast 10 more days to do it as I am currently in a different city and I am not carrying the invoice copy.
BTW Rajesh, did u get any response from the CEOs office?
Regards
HB
hi all,
stock 551ML no root, the calls running on SIM1 (4G) gets disconnected after 5/10 minutes. i suddenly see the radio bars disappearing, i can't hear anymore the called party, and then the call drops. Tried with 2 different carriers on SIM1. The phone is always enabled with 2 SIM's, but on the second one (whatever the carrier is) there's no such problem. I think this phone has large issues when dealing with 2G/3G/4G swap, signal quality on SIM1 is terrible (tested in comparison with wife's iphone6+ with same carrier same location) and often i lose signal on SIM1. Definitely not a work phone in this way. any idea? can a full reset improve the situation?
Please ensure firmware is updated to latest version. Next please try performing a hardware reset including cache wipe partition. http://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1011956/
If the problem continues then it may be a hardware issue with the SIM slot and will require RMA service.
Sincerely
ASUS_USA
[email protected]
after few weeks i can say more about this issue, on SIM1 the 4G slot. (stock phone updated and wiped completely)
1) carrier signal reception has now slightly improved with .59 and .63 update
2) problems on switching from 4G to 3G still there, when 4G signal is poor the phone is not able to detect it, and tries and tries and tries sending data to nowhere. after a minute or so, switch to 3G happens and i got network connectivity again
3) comparison with iphone6+, samsungS5 and sonyZ3 (same network, same location) is still terrible, while i got no network, iphone does and loads the pages, slowly but it loads the full page. i think here is the price difference between the two -> antenna, radio, optimized software for any signal condition
4) under bad (bad from a 551ML point of view) signal conditions the battery drains a lot more faster, and that's fine but at least i would like to use the phone, to receive calls, messages, whatsapp and so on.
5) during a call on SIM1, it still happens that signal disappear and i the call is dropped, less frequently than i had before .59 update, but still happens.
6) i'm calling using SIM2 BTW, SIM2 on 2G has no issues.
i will be soon able to compare with honor7 (it should have a very good optimization on the radio part) and let you know.
bye
I am on AT&T in the US and having a similar problem and hoping someone can help except for me it is SIM 2 that is the problem and for me it is at home. Last night I was on a call that kept dropping, and it was not a good thing at all and I had to end the call. I pretty much cannot sustain SIM 2 calls in my house but SIM 2 elsewhere is okay; calls on SIM 1 are perfectly fine and with my previous phones (Note 3, iPhone, Windows Lumia 1520) no reception problem history ever at all. So this clearly is a device issue and not an AT&T issue as I get good coverage in my house. I had two phones up until a month ago when I opted to consolidate by getting the ZF2.SIM1 is perfectly fine most of the time-I've never dropped a call although a couple times I have to say I've not heard as well for a moment as I could, so I question if my house and the Zenfone2 are a good match, although that is really a weird thing as I live in a major suburban metro area that is not a coverage problem in any way shape or form with any dead spot problems, so I am wondering if something is wrong with my hardware and I need to exchange my phone. I'm going to have to pop my SIM 1 back into my Note 3 in the interim and forward calls on my second line in the interim in the meantime if that's the case . (my windows phone takes a nano SIM) and send my ZF2 back for an exchange Should I do a hard reset? Why would my house be a problem? It's not a dead spot area or remote or anything like that. I really like this phone already got a new SIM 2 card once before when I had problems at first but it seemed to be better until I then tried to make a c all yesterday and it wouldn't work.Could my phone be defective? Hard reset?? My software is up to date.
Sent from my K010 using XDA Free mobile app
After latest updates and various test i can say that signal coverage and battery life has been improved so much. Thanks a lot asus, it's a pleasure to work with this phone now. Keep doing the same good job!
Federic0 said:
After latest updates and various test i can say that signal coverage and battery life has been improved so much. Thanks a lot asus, it's a pleasure to work with this phone now. Keep doing the same good job!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear things worked out for you. My situation didn't work out. I just returned the Zenfone yesterday. I had gotten the replacement phone through ASUS, still replaced yet another SIM card, and the problem with my SIM 2 persisted and got even worse. For me, the SIM slot being 2G did turn out to be the destructive feature of the device. My area is too upgraded for it apparently. You're the only other person I've come across that has referenced SIM 2 usage to me, so I get the sense that most people are just using the ZF2 as a single SIM and don't have a second phone line or data line. Therefore I can understand people being happy overall as it's a decent device for a single SIM user. You are lucky that your SIM 2 coverage is good everywhere. Mine was good in some areas but certainly not in and around my house and there my SIM 2 was unable to sustain phone calls. I didn't care about data-I only wanted phone calls but I couldn't do calls even.I had no cellular connection and my SIM 2 would X out and drop off all the time.
I never had a problem with SIM 1. I always got calls just fine and I found that ASUS always provided updates and I noticed changes in battery life. I was pleased in every other regard but the very purpose that I bought the phone for -to be able to get calls to both my phone lines. I do think ASUS dropped the ball with the 2G slot and need to make their next model with both slots supporting LTE. They me might get me back as a customer if they do.
Sent from my K010 using XDA Free mobile app
It looks like I am not the only one who has the sim 2 signal issue. My phone has this issue from day one, the signal of sim 2 just comes and goes all the time. Software update doesn't help at all. I've also tried putting a new sim card, but still have the same problem. I think this is a hardware issue.
Hi all,
I have in my hands an unopened G960F/DS. I was considering this phone to replace an old model, it's long due. I thought I did my homework and was able to determine this phone worked on Verizon in the US, but a serious note on the box and further research suggests I may have been wrong. Although it would be nice to have new hardware, I am replacing the old one almost entirely out of a desire to flash a custom ROM on it. I was under the impression the lack of CDMA support wasn't a big issue given that Verizon (and everyone else) is phasing out CDMA and the phone still had LTE. Thus my choice of the F/DS. I am informed that opening the box and returning the phone will incur a charge, while keeping the box sealed and returning it will not. I am trying to decide to continue forward and test on Verizon's network here in the US or just return the thing, the choice lies in compatibility with this network. So now I get to play a guessing game.
I find myself in 4G LTE areas most of the time. I want to use data and make voice calls.
This 2-post thread suggests not much can be done:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9/help/sm-g960f-verizon-network-t3856443
This guy demonstrating slower speeds, which I'm not too concerned about, but also HSPA+ in an area he usually gets LTE. In the video description he says after applying a software update it works 'fine':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkNXCK2iVO8
This site lists some band compatibility but doesn't say anything about not being able to use it with Verizon:
https://apn.gishan.net/en/apn/verizon/samsung-galaxy-s9
This site also lists band compatibility but warns about Verizon's strict device policy:
https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...e-samsung-star/verizon-wireless-united-states
Is there any hope to use an unlocked S9 on Verizon in the US? I see this going one of several ways: 1) Everyone works out and I can make calls and use data and there are no issues and rainbows and unicorns 2) Data in certain places, no voice because something something "VoLTE" 3) Absolutely no data/voice whatsoever 4) I switch carriers I return this piece of junk and buy a phone that works. (might coincide with 2/3)
If I end up with (4), how can I avoid this issue in the future? I spent some considerable time deciding on this model, which has the features I want and an unlockable bootloader. Will the S10 have this issue? What about the Note 9? I apologize for the noobposting, and if I missed a thread that answered this question. Thanks for any help you can provide, I sincerely appreciate it.
Edit: This thread asks a similar question but isn't specific and neither are the answers:
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S9/Unlocked-galaxy-S9-on-Verizon/td-p/277493
I have been using a G965f/ds on Verizon Wireless.
VoLTE, vowifi, text, and data work after rooting.
Having done a speed test with a U device and on the g965f/ds, the speed I can receive seems equal.
I haven't had issues with making LTE calls in my area.
CynicalHeight00 said:
I have been using a G965f/ds on Verizon Wireless.
VoLTE, vowifi, text, and data work after rooting.
Having done a speed test with a U device and on the g965f/ds, the speed I can receive seems equal.
I haven't had issues with making LTE calls in my area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback. Are you based in the US? How did you activate the phone? I found instructions on LTE activation here:
www . verizonwireless . com/businessportals/support/how_to_use/activate_4g_lte.html
And an IMEI checker, which fails when I enter what I find on the box my phone is in:
www . verizonwireless . com/od/prepaid/bring-your-own-device/#/checkDevice
Edit: It also looks like they have a second page that checks IMEI (this also fails for me). Can you tell me what either of these pages say when you enter your IMEI?
www . verizonwireless . com/onedp/byod#/
I reside in the US.
The imei of my g965d/fs failed when inputted in to their system;however, the SIM is all that's needed for Verizon wireless to work on it. Initially, though, you might need to insert the SIM card into another imei Verizon wireless compatible device only to allow the system to have that imei in the system for your number. Since, you already have vzw, I'm assuming you already are activated on it with a device, so moving sims is the next step.
Thanks for your input. Anyone else have experience with this device on Verizon's network?
I could have written this exact post.
jmtroth said:
Thanks for your input. Anyone else have experience with this device on Verizon's network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying to do the same thing with the same model Note 9, SM-N960F/DS. I was told by Verizon Level 2 tech rep that simply installing an activated SIM would make the phone work, obviously 4gLTE only since there are no CDMA bands. He checked the 4 bands Verizon uses for their 4gLTE and the F/DS model has all 4 of them.
I am in the same boat as you though. IF I try it and it doesn't work I have to return and lose $125 or switch to GSM network (AT&T or TMO) I am also trying to decide whether to take the gamble. This Level 2 Tech guy didn't mention anything about having to root the phone.
I would also like to know about the advisability of attempting this. I thought I read somewhere that this phone won't have any warranty in US anyway but I am not 100% sure about that. Sellers seem to want to gloss over that issue.
I'm very very interested in this
to put this to bed, you cant use any F galaxy phone on verizon and get full usage. vzw is a CDMA based carrier whereby voice is transmitted primarily via CDMA and data over GSM (which includes voLTE, obviously). The F model do not have CDMA radios in them. You CAN get data to work and therefore voLTE as long as you can flash the vzw CSC to get the phone to install the voLTE app. Long story short, dont try it. Its a fruitless endeavor. I mean, do what you want, i guess, but dont expect for the F to work well, or at all on vzw. There is nothing anybody on xda or anywhere can do to alleviate that.
I had straight talk using Verizon towers on note 8, my note 8 broke, I missed flashing custom ROMs, I bought a note 9 n960f, read online it would work too. I inserted sim. Did not get data or calls. Flashed custom ROMs found a lineage is rom that worked with data for like 2 min then quit. I kept Singapore rom csc stock radios I guess from Singapore, guy on here said he flashed Singapore stock Odin flash and ended up making his work but didn't work with my straight talk Verizon sim. My buddy came over and he uses visible network on Verizon towers we popped in his sim and it worked flawlessly on stock Singapore csc/flashed custom rom from xda. I switched, it's cheaper, it works and first month was 5$ no fee to transfer my number over. Visible is great, join a group and it's 25$ a month.
My Galaxy Note 5 SM-N920I purchased December of 2015 can no longer make or receieve calls. My provider is TracFone via the Bring Your Own Phone program. I use their SIM card and it has worked all this time. Until recently the phones features have stopped working. I think they have been disabling the 3G in my area, as everyone is converting to 4G now.
Note 5 is supposed to support 4G but it's definitely been having issues. Text and internet still works. however texts are sometimes delayed on occasion, not always, usually it's fine. Data speed just now was tested at 10 mbps down, 3 mbps up. Signal bars are consistently low, regardless of physical location; inside, outside, other side of town, SIM status shows signal always between -108dBm and -118dBm. This is likely why I cannot make or receive calls, but the question is, why is this happening?
Like I said, I suspect they are shutting down 3G in this area, so the best theory I've been able to come up with is this: perhaps 4G has always sucked on this phone but I never noticed because it would fall back to the good 3G connection. Now that 3G is gone in this area, all I have to use is 4G which is a shoddy connection.
Further research has found in the early days of this phone there were numerous reports of weak/no signal. See these threads:
Fed Up With Terrible Reception
Hey all, I'm kind of venting here and at the same time hoping for some sort of direction because I'm absolutely fed up with my S6. I upgraded roughly a month and a half ago from an S4. My phone usage was below normal for the first week or two as I was busy with a variety of projects. As my...
forums.androidcentral.com
No signal/network on my note 5
Hi everyone, so I just got this note 5 N920P last two weeks but I noticed its OS was lollipop...waited for updates for 7.0 but nothing so I went ahead and downloaded Odin with latest firmware from samobile and did it my self, now here the problems start to show first of all this hands free...
forums.androidcentral.com
One theory was that the 4G antenna they used in the Note 5 / S6 was of poor design. Causing weak signal.
Things I have tried and did not work:
-Contacted TracFone. They confirmed the device is supported and provisioned correctly. They recommended a new SIM card.
-Replaced the SIM card with a brand new one
-Factory reset the device. It's running the stock Android 7.0 Nougat which was the last up to date version available.
-Tinkered with various service menus including *#2263# and *#0011#. Messing about with the LTE band settings didn't change the signal strength ever. Regardless of the LTE band, it stays in that -108 to -118 range, too weak for calling.
What can be done to fix this? Possible ideas:
-Internal antenna replacement, but this seems either expensive to have someone do, or extremely difficult to do oneself. Would it even make a difference? Has anyone tried this?
-Software. Could the issue have been introduced during one of the software updates? Planned obsolescence perhaps? Could we revert to an earlier firmware to potentially resolve this? has anyone tried this?
-Firmware. Could we upgrade the firmware to a later, unsupported version safely? Perhaps the issue was fixd in later Android versions but has not been adressed in older devices that are no longer updated.
I'm the kind of person who likes to use my things until they absolutely die. This Note 5 has been perfectly fine until recently. There is nothing wrong with it. It's still modern, fast, and has a great camera. I would HATE to have to replace a phone for such a stupid reason. Not only is money tight, but it's such a waste when this thing is still perfect apart from this weak 4G signal.
Has anyone else had this issue? Have you resolved it? Any help appreciated. Thank you.
Try a network reset.
Clear sim toolkit data.
Clear system cache.
The access point profile may need updating or maybe the sim?
Contact AT&T advanced tech support.