Problems with WiFi and with SMS/MMS Delay

[akutch34]

Problem: I split my time between two houses. I currently have a Galaxy Note 4 with the following issues. (I previously had a Galaxy S5 with the same problems.)

House #01: At my primary house, my phone works flawlessly on either WiFi or 4G. I can use either with zero problems. The only issue at this house is that usually text messages (both sms & mms) are majorly delayed or I just don't get them at all until I leave the neighborhood. Phone shows full bars/almost full bars so that is a mystery. Wifi is strong and zero problems streaming or using any app. Do not have that problem anywhere else. Happens regardless of if I'm on WiFi or 4G.

House #02: At this house, I cannot use 4G or any network for that matter. This house is near the state park and the reception on almost every carrier is barely usable. My phone automatically logs into the WiFi network at this house when in arrive. I have no trouble using WiFi to stream music, use chrome browser, text, WiFi call, Snapchat, etc. However, I cannot use the Facebook app or Instagram app. At all. If I open them, they just continuously say "loading" but never refresh or load. If I manually pull down to refresh on Facebook, I get the "no network, try again" error. This totally baffles be because, aside from those two apps, everything else works. I am cross posting this to Galaxy Note 4 category as well.

Any thoughts/suggestions are welcome & appreciated! Thanks, Happy Holidays!

 

[B. Diddy]

Is house #1 on the border of the network? That is, is it near the US/Canada border, or is it near the edge of your carrier's normal network? I wonder if the phone might be picking up another network, and perhaps that causes a delay in SMS/MMS.

At house #2, are you able to log into the router's settings? Check the router's firewall settings to make sure Facebook isn't being blocked, for some reason.

 

[akutch34]

Is house #1 on the border of the network? That is, is it near the US/Canada border, or is it near the edge of your carrier's normal network? I wonder if the phone might be picking up another network, and perhaps that causes a delay in SMS/MMS.

At house #2, are you able to log into the router's settings? Check the router's firewall settings to make sure Facebook isn't being blocked, for some reason.

Both houses are in Baltimore, MD and the coverage map for T-Mobile shows great coverage in my areas.

House 2, my phone is the only device with this issue. my tablet (galaxy tab 4) works fine with Facebook as well as the other android phone (Galaxy S 4) and two IPhone 5's. no problems found with the router /=

 

[B. Diddy]

For the issue at house #1, have you spoken to your carrier? SMS/MMS delivery problems will usually be related to the network, so they're the best place to start.

For the issue at house #2, review this guide and see if any of the tips help: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...roubleshooting-wi-fi-connection-problems.html. Also, consider changing the DNS server: The Ultimate Guide to Changing Your DNS Server

 

[Rukbat]

For issue #2, I had the same problem. I was a network engineer long enough to, if I wanted to waste the effort, figure out what's causing it, and a systems developer long enough to modify some open source router code to solve it. Instead, I bought a $35 Netgear N300 router, knowing I could return it if it didn't solve the problem. It works, where D-Link and Linksys routers (newer ones - my WRT54G worked fine until it stopped working) gave me the same "loading forever" problem. (If you can turn on a guest account on the router at house #2, you'll probably find a difference, but who wants to use an unprotected wifi connection?)

As for coverage maps, they belong on Comedy Central, not cellphone ads. Where Spring shows absolutely solid coverage, my daughter's house has absolutely ZERO signal. Not no bars, but measured on some pretty sophisticated equipment, there's nothing there. There's a shadow being caused by a ridge that just happens to coincide with the outside walls of her house. (AT&T signal almost overloads the phone, and outside the house, the Sprint signal is stronger than the AT&T signal.) Where AT&T shows no coverage, and they're planning on putting up a tower sometime in the future, I get pretty good coverage. Not great, a few little dead spots, but usable. The map shows pure white.

Always test the areas with a phone, ignore the maps. (Which is why I'm on AT&T - a $10 Tracfone told me that AT&T covered my daughter's house. It's my 12 year old grandson's phone now.) Of course, you will find areas where no one has coverage. Here in NC, there are no towers of any kind, cellphone, fire, nothing, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park - so no matter who your carrier is, there's a long stretch of I-40 with no cellphone coverage. Lousy radio reception once in a while too. (None at all for the rest of the time.) And anyone who's come east on that stretch of I-40 can understand how critical it is to be able to at least call the state police - they have cutouts for runaway trucks, so the driver can aim at the cutout and jump - and let the truck crash into the hill behind the cutout. Then wait an hour or so for someone to get down to civilization to call the police.

 

[akutch34]

House #02 Was unaware that there was another, non-linksys, router in the house. I connected to that one and forgot the linksys one and have had zero problems since. Problem solved!