Hi guys. Can you do me a favour please?
I just want to know what network to go for next time. I'm with 3 atm, but i find their reception in the buildings quite bad. Outside, it's not a problem at all.
Best i ever get is about 79dbm, but on average it floats around 93-103dbm.
You can check that by dialing *#*#4636#*#* , phone information.
Could you please provide these values, network and location (ie dorset would be enough, no need for anything more precise)
Thanks a lot.
im with virgin, i'm inside at the mo and my house gives a bad signal, however its on 1bar at 102 to 107dbm avg is 105dbm. I live in the south west, Exeter
Recently I have had almost every outgoing call I make go directly to a busy signal. This usually last for an hour or two before I can make any calls. Is anyone else having this issue with there phone?
Honestly I don't know what I am paying sprint for anymore I can't make phone calls and when I do they are so broken up it's nearly impossible to understand what anyone is saying or the call with just drops, incoming calls never show up I just get a text telling me I have a voicemail an hour later with no missed call, the 4G data I get is usually below 50kbps which I would be better off buying a damn 56k modem oh and 3G is nonexistent I ether have 4g or 1x.
I got sprint in a rural area of NY knowing I would be moving here to Portland, OR and figured these problems wouldn't exist in a major city but in fact they are all worse here! Their maps claim I am in a best coverage area for both voice and data but the reps when asked ether claim there is a problem with the towers, tell me I am in a poor coverage area or tell me to take my phone in for service which this is my 2nd device both showing the same problems.
Does anyone know if I can demand they terminate my contract without being charging the ETF due to them not holding up their end of the contract which is to provide me with service. I love having such an amazing device and thanks to sprint not providing me with service I'm only being able to use it as a paper weight.
efarley said:
Recently I have had almost every outgoing call I make go directly to a busy signal. This usually last for an hour or two before I can make any calls. Is anyone else having this issue with there phone?
Honestly I don't know what I am paying sprint for anymore I can't make phone calls and when I do they are so broken up it's nearly impossible to understand what anyone is saying or the call with just drops, incoming calls never show up I just get a text telling me I have a voicemail an hour later with no missed call, the 4G data I get is usually below 50kbps which I would be better off buying a damn 56k modem oh and 3G is nonexistent I ether have 4g or 1x.
I got sprint in a rural area of NY knowing I would be moving here to Portland, OR and figured these problems wouldn't exist in a major city but in fact they are all worse here! Their maps claim I am in a best coverage area for both voice and data but the reps when asked ether claim there is a problem with the towers, tell me I am in a poor coverage area or tell me to take my phone in for service which this is my 2nd device both showing the same problems.
Does anyone know if I can demand they terminate my contract without being charging the ETF due to them not holding up their end of the contract which is to provide me with service. I love having such an amazing device and thanks to sprint not providing me with service I'm only being able to use it as a paper weight.
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I had this same issue but after a PRL and profile update I was good to go. Hopefully it works for you!
i have I9192 and use 2 sim both sim have internet connection one is 3G an other is 2G and the network for both sim are WCDMA/GSM AND GSM only respectively. when i use 3G it did not get full speed 18kb-40kb even it is slower than my 2G network. when i tether the 3G network it get full speed as say 1mb -2mb.
i call to customer care but not get help. so i thought that its may be the problem of phone. so help me plsssss
thanks in advance.
sorry for bad English
Hello everyone.
I'm new here and this is my newest phone purchase after weeks and weeks of research I decided to purchase this phone. However I'm having one big problem. I cannot receive phone calls using the phone. However I can send text messages which is strange and when I try to talk to someone it switches to 2G for no real reason too.
It's fully updated and completely stock in fact just purchased three days ago. I'm wondering what I could do so I can get this thing working again. I have 30 days to return this thing, and I rather not because its a rather good phone and I like it a lot but if I can't get it to receive phone calls then I have to return it.
please help anyone.
Dallas Texas said:
Hello everyone.
I'm new here and this is my newest phone purchase after weeks and weeks of research I decided to purchase this phone. However I'm having one big problem. I cannot receive phone calls using the phone. However I can send text messages which is strange and when I try to talk to someone it switches to 2G for no real reason too.
It's fully updated and completely stock in fact just purchased three days ago. I'm wondering what I could do so I can get this thing working again. I have 30 days to return this thing, and I rather not because its a rather good phone and I like it a lot but if I can't get it to receive phone calls then I have to return it.
please help anyone.
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Try installing the t-mobile visual voicemail app, there maybe settings in there you can adjust, only if your U.S though.
boe323 said:
Try installing the t-mobile visual voicemail app, there maybe settings in there you can adjust, only if your U.S though.
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I had the same problem check the apn settings my was the stock tmo setting with the phone and a . Was in the wrong spot
boe323 said:
Try installing the t-mobile visual voicemail app, there maybe settings in there you can adjust, only if your U.S though.
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rob420p said:
I had the same problem check the apn settings my was the stock tmo setting with the phone and a . Was in the wrong spot
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Alright I'll try and install the T-mobile visual voicemail app and see what is good
APN settings yes? I have tried that and tried inputting a manual one and even the ones on there which has three types of T-mobile settings
I'm not an expert on this but I have been looking for info on this for a while before I buy an A2 Lite to use on T-Mobile and I believe this post by a T-Mobile MVNO customer service rep may answer your question
The TLDR is that T-Mobile strictly uses band 12 for all VoLTE calls and if the phone doesn't support band 12/VoLTE T-Mobile forces it to use 2G for calls and texts. In some areas where the spectrum has been refarmed and there are a lot of 2G users your incoming call will time out before the tower finishes searching for you on VoLTE and ultimately tries to connect you to 2G, resulting in your phone not actually ringing.
This would also explain why there are no issues with texts, since they don't time out like an incoming call. Apparently there is no solution to this if you live in certain areas and use T-Mobile, and it will continue to get worse as spectrum is refarmed.
Sorry for the delay -- I'm technically off today. I saw you question and just had to pop in and answer, because I have a complete answer for you. Your issue is band compatibility, specifically the lack of Band 12. Let me explain:
For years and years, T-Mobile sent all their calls over the legacy 2G network on 1900MHz. Every call and text message went over this frequency, and all T-Mobile phones still support it for backwards compatibility.
Then, T-Mobile launched Voice over LTE, or VoLTE. But, they made the stipulation that VoLTE would only ever work on LTE Band 12. That means that any phone that didn't specifically have Band 12 LTE would still have to use the 2G 1900MHz frequency to send all calls and text messages. Any phone that did support Band 12 could use VoLTE and would send all their calls and texts through that VoLTE Band 12 connection.
That's not really a problem for most people, as T-Mobile's 2G network is still live in all their markets. These phones will connect to the LTE network for all data, but all their calls and texts go over that 2G connection.
Enter the problem: Spectrum crunch. Spectrum in the US is a limited resource. That's why the auctions always for it always go for millions of dollars for tiny portions. T-Mobile (and by extension, all its MVNOs, as we have no power over how they build their network) wants to make LTE the new standard, and push into 5G. In order to do that, they need to launch LTE in more places, and feed more devices than ever. They only have so much spectrum, so they reallocate what they already have to the new technology.
This is already happening with 3G. 2G is, again, just being kept around for backwards compatibility. They take the sectors that broadcast 3G (and 2G) and make them smaller and smaller, so the rest of the room can be used for LTE to service more devices faster. It makes business sense.
The process is called "re-farming" spectrum, and a quick Google search quickly becomes a rabbit hole as you find other people in your circumstance. They put the disused services on tiny little slivers of spectrum, some as small as 5MHz, which without getting too technical, is tiny.
If you happen to be unlucky enough live in an area where they're re-farming 2G spectrum to LTE, and your phone doesn't support VoLTE on Band 12, you're effectively fighting all the other T-Mobile (really any carrier, but for arguments' sake) customers whose devices also need to connect to that 2G network
Add enough people, and you get the problem you're having. A call comes into the network, and the towers go to work trying to find you. First, they try VoLTE, and don't find you there. Then they try the old 2G network, but there's like 200 other people in your area that are connected to that one tower, so it has to fight through them all to find your SIM card number and connect the call and-- right before it connects, the call times out of rings and your caller is sent to Voicemail.
You never get a missed call alert, your caller isn't alerted that your phone didn't ring, and because your phone didn't get a confirmation, you probably won't get a voicemail notification.
This doesn't affect the phone's ability to connect to the 3G network or 4G LTE Bands 2 and 4, which lots of phones support. But calls and texts don't travel over those networks. You'll still have an active, working data connection if this is what's happening to you, which is why it's hard to diagnose not just for Ting reps, but our customers and other MVNOs, as well as T-Mobile itself.
This problem isn't going to go away, and it's only going to get worse as re-farming 2G goes nationwide. It's not Ting-specific. Any T-Mobile device will have this problem if there are enough 2G-talk-and-text users in your area.
The phone in question, the Blu Vivo 5, supports Band 2 and Band 4 for LTE, but doesn't support Band 12, and thus doesn't support VoLTE. This is exactly what's happening to you.
This is exactly how it happened to my S/O. She had a Motorola Droid Mini on Ting GSM that worked great for years, on two distinct T-Mobile-powered networks. Then, T-Mobile re-farmed enough 2G in our area that she started missing calls, texts wouldn't arrive and she wouldn't get voicemails. The key identifier that this was her problem was that placing a call would take something like 10-15 seconds to connect. Typically, this should be instant.
There was nothing wrong with the phone at all -- it was working as designed. The second I got her into a Band 12 VoLTE phone, the problems disappeared completely. Nothing else changed.
The only solution is a new (or new-to-you) phone that supports Band 12 and VoLTE. No number of hard resets, network resets or new SIM cards will fix this problem. You'll have this problem on any network that uses T-Mobile as their backbone, as long as the phone you're using doesn't support Band 12 LTE and VoLTE.
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I don't have a high enough post count to post a link but it was posted on r/Ting if you search that subreddit for the thread titled "Over 4 years and now this" you should find it. The info was written by u/literallyunlimited.
D412 said:
I'm not an expert on this but I have been looking for info on this for a while before I buy an A2 Lite to use on T-Mobile and I believe this post by a T-Mobile MVNO customer service rep may answer your question
The TLDR is that T-Mobile strictly uses band 12 for all VoLTE calls and if the phone doesn't support band 12/VoLTE T-Mobile forces it to use 2G for calls and texts. In some areas where the spectrum has been refarmed and there are a lot of 2G users your incoming call will time out before the tower finishes searching for you on VoLTE and ultimately tries to connect you to 2G, resulting in your phone not actually ringing.
This would also explain why there are no issues with texts, since they don't time out like an incoming call. Apparently there is no solution to this if you live in certain areas and use T-Mobile, and it will continue to get worse as spectrum is refarmed.
I don't have a high enough post count to post a link but it was posted on r/Ting if you search that subreddit for the thread titled "Over 4 years and now this" you should find it. The info was written by u/literallyunlimited.
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Thanks fam, I'll return it and get another phone I appreciate the information brother.
My wife and I both have a sprint / now tmobile s20 with the same issue. At home I have poor cell signal, 1-2 bars. When I'm on a call using WiFi calling, as soon as I get 2 bars of signal it switch's to volte, and almost always drops the call. The only "fix" I've found is switching the network mode to 2g only, then it will always use wifi calling. Sprint has been no help, and they no longer offer a signal booster. Anyone have any ideas what I can do to stop dropping calls at home?
tjmortenson said:
My wife and I both have a sprint / now tmobile s20 with the same issue. At home I have poor cell signal, 1-2 bars. When I'm on a call using WiFi calling, as soon as I get 2 bars of signal it switch's to volte, and almost always drops the call. The only "fix" I've found is switching the network mode to 2g only, then it will always use wifi calling. Sprint has been no help, and they no longer offer a signal booster. Anyone have any ideas what I can do to stop dropping calls at home?
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Since both you and your wife are experiencing the same problem it's likely you're in a dead zone where a decent signal isn't possible due to poor network capabilities. I doubt it's a defect in your devices and T-mobile isn't going to invest in additional equipment for a handful of customers. Your best and realistically only option is switching service providers. If you entered into a fixed term agreement you can terminate it for cause however if your devices are included in a promotion you may have to return them to cancel the agreement. If T-mobile refuses contact your local BBB, that will get their attention.