The Samsung Galaxy S24
j5k's profile

Teacher

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1 Message

Friday, August 10th, 2012 12:15 AM

Closed

Samsung Galaxy S3 Not Receiving Calls - Phone issue or Android issue?

I just got a Samsung S3 a week ago.  I have received calls and texts on it, but it appears that I am missing calls.  Somebody tried calling me 6-7 times in a row in a 30 minute time span yesterday and it never rang, and only one of those showed up as a missed call.  Today, the same thing happened again with two calls, and neither appeared in my missed call log.  They sent a text and it didn't appear until about 20 minutes after it was sent.

 

I live in a built up area where there should be good coverage, and looked at the map and am rated as "best coverage."  In the past six months, there were maybe two incidents at most when my old phone (not a smart phone) did not ring.  I have a normal amount of bars on my phone.

 

During both of these incidents, my phone was not in use, and the ringer was on with sufficent volume.

 

Does anybody have any recommendations for solving this?

Explorer

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16 Messages

11 years ago


@Danvee wrote:

But, jt1019, aren't you paying for reliable talk and text AND 4G/ LTE? 

 


Yes, but the 4G is still perfectly reliable. And LTE is reliable when I have it active, it just causes issues with the rest of the phone. I agree, it's ridiculous that I have to disable the LTE on a flagship phone, but I'm not paying anything extra for a service I'm not using.

Mentor

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42 Messages

11 years ago

Then you are one of the lucky ones. Be very happy - the rest of us aren't. 

 

If you're getting 100% of the services for which you're paying, you are in the majority. 

 

Sad part is that the small number of us victimized are fobbed off, hoping that we'd just quietly accept our fate until the contract is up and we can seek better service. 

 

Not happening. Not accepting flawed, incomplete service for a premium price. 

 

I hope that you continue to get what you're paying for, and that someday we'll all be so fortunate. 

 

Teacher

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14 Messages

11 years ago

I have read this threat several times and finally decided to post.  M.a.s.e., thanks for the workaround, great great job on that.  We are all indebted.

 

Thanks everyone for the information you posted.  After reading about all of your sufferings, I cannot bring myself to be insulted by a Tier 1 Rep.....just can't.  I plan to buy myself out of this problem and move on (as much as I hate giving ATT one more red cent).

 

ATT support is very much like wilderbeasts jumping into a river of alligators after watching the first to get eaten, they just cannot learn.  It is not nature's intention.

 

Mase, I think you sum it up in a nutshell when you say that AT&T will NEVER resolve this problem.  Especially that the S3 can be gotten for 50 bucks now with a contract, we are beyond hope on the issue.

 

That being said, does anyone have a proven suggestion on a new phone/provider that would be a worth investing?

 

Thanks!!!!

Scholar

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90 Messages

11 years ago

Hi, thank you for the kind words 🙂 

i agree with all you have said, i believe the best course of action here is to take measures into our own hands. 

by that i mean, realize we will get no resolution and move on to choose what is best for us. 

 

Here is my 0.02$.... keep in mind that is only my personal opinion, i do realize not all can do what i suggest. 

 

by now we all know and 110% agree this issue is due to ATT modified version of OS on the device mixed with poop LTE support on towers . (mostly OS).

other than disabling LTE on your phone getting a resolution from ATT is none existing. 

I wish i could actually show all the victims in this thread how easy it is to actually root your phone.

 

i do understand this is not an option for many and i really hope my post will not get "modified" as i am truly trying to help here (more than ATT does). 

 

Rooting is SO easy these days, its nothing more then double clicking on a file on your computer and wait 30 seconds.

Thankfully Google is NOT like Apple, there is no cat and mouse game where people root their phone and Google rush to push yet another update that all it does is remove the root (jailbreak). 

 

ATT is one of 2 carriers that block the boot loader (att and vzw), their reasoning (which is logical to some point) is "just make sure you dont "brick" your phone if you dont know what you are doing" BUT the bigger issue here that ATT doesn’t know what they are doing, obviously your version of the OS doesn’t work.... 

 

gladly there are very smart people out there (XDA) that know how to bypass these things, and rooting the phone never been easier...

 

Now, if you root you basically gain administrator access to the root directory.... for those who don’t understand what i am talking about think about it like windows computer.... when you install windows the installation process ask you to create a user and it tells you that the first user will be an administrator, why? because an administrator have access to all files and folders, sure Microsoft hide protected files etc (like in a new phone, you don’t have access to them) but if you know what you are doing on a computer you can easily go and change that value to show hidden files and folders. Microsoft mentality is that if you know how to change that value most likely you know what you are doing and this is YOUR MACHINE, if you mess it up its your problem....

 

so, i can go on and on and on....

but i will focus on what you guys want to hear: "But what about warranty"...

 

true, you will instantly lose warranty on your phone.

BUT here is my recommendation.... go buy the phone from best buy !!! why? 

best buy will offer you a "black tie" protection - take it....

they charge 180$ for the term of your contract (2 years) and they know this is 2013 and the device is YOURS !! therefore, if whatever happen to the phone (broken screen as well) they will replace it no questions asked and give you a refurb with ZERO out of pocket. 

ATT warranty will tell you 200$ per fix out of pocket and will give you a looooong list of things that are not supported under your warranty, so 200$ per fix plus the 16$ you will pay monthly.... best buy 180$ up front for 2 years with 0 per fix request. both will give you a refurb... only ATT will give you a loaner for 3 weeks while they will be cheap and send your device to Samsung so they can fix it under manufacture warranty so att will not have to spend money....

 

the XDA community is gigantic... there are countless of ROMS out there. all you need to do is READ. see other people reviews and experiences. it will take the normal person 30 minutes to understand the basics and your good. 

 

why these issues NEVER occur on a Google device (aka nexus, Google edition etc)? because Google know how to build the OS, whenever a carrier take that phone on the spot they develop their own version of the OS using Google binaries and SDK, that’s where the problem lies.... ATT dev team did something wrong.... to fix it will take a lot of time effort and money...

the easy route is to just wait for Google to release a new OS and then redo their version hoping to not have that bug again...

 

that is why ATT is always 2 versions behind...

att still on 4.1.1 while Google already on 4.3.

 

hope this post help some people.

i am truly trying to help those who don’t have the knowledge to understand what is really going on. 

 

thank you. 

Teacher

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14 Messages

11 years ago

Great advice Mace, thank you.  Since I am prepared to "move on" I am feeling adventurous and I am going to visit XDA and do a Frankenphone to my Galaxy and post my experience here.

Teacher

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14 Messages

11 years ago

After reading a second time, what a write up Mace.  Very valuable information, much of it I was unaware of.  Cant wait to root the phone.  It will take me back to my days of overclocking my 100mhz Pentium and frying my AMD K7 Athlon!

Scholar

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90 Messages

11 years ago

LOL Samsunk-Failaxy u cracked me up 🙂

Mentor

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42 Messages

11 years ago

Good advice, m.a.s.e, and advice that I've been giving to any and everyone who's considering becoming indentured to AT&T. 

However, we're 4 months into a 2 year contract, so the loss of warranty is a major consideration. 

I've also got a few acquaintances who did in fact root and are on 4.1.2 and experience the same issues. 

We poor suckered who are locked in for 2 years have little choice: we can buy out our contract to escape the poor service or risk our warranty in order to get the phone to do what it's supposed to. 

 

A true no-win situation. 

 

Their slogan should be;"AT&T - imagine the possibility of getting the service that you pay for.. "

That's about all some of us can do......... 

Scholar

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90 Messages

11 years ago

Danvee

Your friends still have the issue cause rooting is not enough. 

as mentioned rooting just give you administrative access to the core files, but does not change anything. therefore the OS is still ATT version if the OS. to resolve a root and a replacement of the ROM need to be performed. the S3 already got google edition 4.3 customer rom... XDA is the source location for info. 

Mentor

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53 Messages

11 years ago

You guys (AT&T reps) realize that we own our phones, and are free to do whatever we want to them with regard to modifying the software or hardware (within FCC limits I suppose). If you wish it to be otherwise, AT&T should rent the phones to everybody, and take them back when you stop your service, just like my cable modem and Dish receiver.

 

[Edited to comply with Guidelines]

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