The Samsung Galaxy S24
MoarDots's profile

Tutor

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9 Messages

Tuesday, August 12th, 2014 3:01 AM

Samsung Galaxy S4 -- text/phone/voicemail no-connect even with bars

Much like the end of this thread

 

https://forums.att.com/t5/Android/Samsung-galaxy-s4-SIM-card-error-post-kitkat-update/m-p/3910878#M50653

 

Last 3 weeks or so, Samsung Galaxy S4 for me and wife have sporadically not been connected, even in presence of 1-2 bars of 4G LTE. Texts don't come through, phone calls go right to voicemail, voicemail messages don't alert the user. Basically the phone acts like it's not on the network at all. This turns out to be dangerous, especially if I need to get in contact with my wife for something urgent.

 

This is not an isolated event. I'm extremely technical (semiconductor design), and colleagues with S4s have seen this occur for the last month or so.

 

AT&T will tell you to:

1.) Replace SIM card

2.) Power ON/OFF, take out battery

3.) Factory reset

4.) Download "Mark the Spot" to diagnose and report errors

5.) Report issue to customer service

6.) If all else fails, back up photos, etc., replace phone at warranty area

 

Needless to say, none of this works. Hence posting here.

 

My fellow nerds and I have instead filed a bucket of technical bugs and tried to isolate the issue. We actually found the behavior differs by tower, and when trying to file a massive bug (like corporate level) on a tower in Austin, TX, the "engineers" from AT&T took a look and said "issue has been resolved". Seems like a script kiddie ran some python tests remotely and all the tests said "PASS" so therefore it was "resolved". If they had gone to said tower in person with a phone, they would see the LTE brokeness, but alas, that's not how the support works.

 

Moving on, the issue invovles 4.4.2 and some recent LTE update. 4.4.3 has been out for some devices, but Samsung hasn't pushed it to AT&T yet.

 

If you are able to turn off LTE, everything will work fine. But how do you do that? The mighty internet says to root your phone, but what if you don't want to do that (especially with the plethora of shady ROMs out there)? The Internetz will also say to add your own "APN", but that gets hacky and is specific to your local 4G carrier (which may or may not be a derivative of the babyBell buyouts). Previous versions of AT&T S4s allowed you to turn off LTE, but that was taken away in Kitkat without root. iPhones can still do this without root.

 

So, seems options are getting limited. Solutions seem to narrow to rooting the phone, hacking a non-rooted phone to find a correct local APN for 4G, or simply dumping AT&T, paying the ETF, and going to a network which takes this seriously. (If I get asked one more time if I reset my phone or if there was sufficient battery, I'm going to scream. Did you try a new SIM card??)

 

Ultimately, replacing/rooting/updating/SIM swap/battery replacing/ON/OFF will NOT fix this issue, it is systemic. AT&T does not seem to realize this. Too bad, probably losing customers b/c of it.

 

Maybe this post will get a real "engineer" to do something besides run pre-coded diagnostics on the S4s.

 

I'll try to find a universal APN hack to 4G and post.

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

Have the new s4 active warranty replacement will it start not connecting after 4.4.2 update?

Voyager

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2 Messages

10 years ago

S4 user here also guys in the OKC area. I experience this problem 4-5 times a day and have to toggle airplane mode on/off to connect again to the network so I can make/receive calls and text messages and data. I have changed network mode to 4G and no longer experience the problem. It is clear it deals with the LTE setting and I really wish at&t would fix the problem. My tech guy has tried everything and we have come to the conclusion that it is with the 4.2 update and I hope this problem is fixed with and when the new update comes out. PLEASE READ AND FIX AT&T.

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

Same here. Thanks for posting the info. I thought it was just me.

Contributor

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1 Message

9 years ago

I'm assuming this only works if I actually have a network connection? I've been having the same issue that everyone else is speaking of, but now my s4 won't recognize my sim card at all, even after getting a new one from the store earlier today. So it looks like I'm stuck using my old s2 until the new update rolls out, if that ever happens.

Contributor

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1 Message

9 years ago

I am having the same problem with the Galaxy S4.  It has been months. The SIM card was replaced with no success.  In my last conversation with ATT, I was advised this is an ongoing problem with the Samsung S4 and ATT.  The "fix"  was to occur in early September. 

 

In the meantime, I was told to stop restarting the unit, instead turn airplane mode on/off.  I have to do this at least twice a day. 

At what point does ATT and Samsung step up to the plate?  

Contributor

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1 Message

9 years ago

For me on my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 (which I have had for about 9 months), the dropped calls problem and the "network connection lost" problem are two different things requiring different solutions.  I had lots of dropped calls when I first got the S4, but I learned the *#*#4636#*#* trick a few months later and changing to "GSM auto (PRL)" which gets rid of the LTE part of 4G did indeed fix the dropped calls problem. And I have been fine with the S4 ever since.......until two weeks ago. Which is when my S4 started randomly losing the network connection, leaving my phone calls and messaging DOA. Without any notification to me.

 

I had a near emergency two days ago when a friend was calling me for more than an hour and then text messaging, and I had no idea because my home screen showed nothing that indicated I had lost network connection OR that I had incoming phone calls, voicemails, or text messages (i.e., no little numbers next to those icons).

 

This losing network connection issue is new but has happened 3 or 4 times in the last two weeks. And I had, and still have, no idea why or when it's going to happen. So even though I have jettisoned the LTE and no longer have dropped calls, this "Network Connection Lost" thing is new and seems unrelated to anything else. And yes, I can off and on or do the airplane mode thing to restore the network connection, but my big gripe is that there is nothing on my home screen that notifies me when my network connection is lost, so I can check my home screen all I want and never know people are trying to call me but can't get through because my phone is dead.

Contributor

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2 Messages

9 years ago

I had your exact problem on my AT&T SGS4. It began with an Android 4.4.3 update about 3 months ago. It seems to have just ended with Android 4.4.4 from a few days ago. Two full days without a hiccup. OBTW- I tried almost all the" fixes " you tried. None of them worked for me either. In fact, I was about to exchange the phone with Geek Squad ( another one is on the way ) but now I am considering keeping mine if nothing happens in the next week.

Good luck!

Contributor

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1 Message

9 years ago

Did you try uninstalling apps one by one until they are all gone or you find that one is causing the problem? Same thing was happening to me with the 4.4.4 update. Tried everything that everyone has done to no avail. So then I began to think maybe it was a tower issue or an LTE issue like stated at the bottom. Called in a tech and tried the GSM only (PRL) change to NO AVAIL. I then thought maybe it's an app issue since the device worked fine before all of this started being on 4.4.4 the whole time. Uninstalled UMail (a visual voice mail app) and everything is working fine now (fingers crossed).

 

Hope this helps!

Contributor

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1 Message

9 years ago

MoarDots,

 

I have been recently experiencing the same issues with connection.  Missing several phone calls with them going straight to VM with no ring. 

 

Your suggestion to dial *#*#4636#*#* and make the changes WORKED !!!

 

I went from 1 bar to 4/5 bars.  The Lte disappeared.  I turned off Wifi and my searches are still quick.  Amazing how AT&T can't help you with this.  How did you ever figure this out anyway???

 

DrewM

Contributor

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2 Messages

9 years ago

Drew,

After a firmware update at a Samsung kiosk at my local Best Buy, about 2
months ago, the connection problems stopped.

That is so much better than typing special codes - (which always reset to
defaults whenever you reboot.)

Good luck!

Medicalmonster
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