LG G8 Amazon Alexa model with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have Data.

[clh42]

Got the LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition last August (2019). I use it with Sprint. I love the phone and it worked great, until a month ago.

All of a sudden, I can't make or receive phone calls or text messages, but I DO still connect to the Sprint cell service (I have bars) and I DO have working 4G LTE Data. Literally, one day it worked and the next day it didn't. I hadn't powered cycled the phone or anything between it worked and when it suddenly didn't. It just stopped working.

When I try to call out, the dialer gives me an "Out of service area" message, even though I'm within my service area. When someone tries to call me, it goes straight to voice mail as if my phone is turned off, except that my phone is turned on. When I try to send a text, it sits at "sending" indefinitely and never sends. When someone sends me a text, I simply never receive it.

Sprint, I do firmly believe, has done everything they can to troubleshoot it and proven it's not a network issue. Several different kinds of resets, including a factory reset. I was able to reactivate an older LG V20 on my account and it works just fine.

The phone is still under warranty with LG, and I was able to send it in for repair at no cost, but they did not find anything wrong with the hardware. They did do a software update of some sort, but that did not resolve the issue.

So now I'm essentially stuck between both Sprint and LG saying it's the other's issue. First unlocked phone I've ever bought and it bites me in the butt.

Any other ideas for troubleshooting either on the phone itself (beyond all the standard stuff, which I've already done), or with Sprint?

 

[me just saying]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

does it work in safemode? maybe run your own diagnostic codes.

https://www.androidtechtips.com/secret-codes-lg-g8-thinq/

 

[clh42]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Same issue in Safe mode, I'm in that right now. It's also still in the VERY initial setup stage after a factory reset having been returned from LG warranty repair. I've signed in to my Google account, but have not restored or installed any other software or data on my own yet.

Thanks for the link to the diagnostic codes. Unfortunately, most of them didn't do anything, and the few that did were for things not related to my issue.

 

[mustang7757]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Hi,
Can you verify your Sim works in another phone? Like friends, family, etc..

 

[clh42]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Sprint replaced the SIM back when the issue first started (about a month ago).

I don't have a way to test the SIM in a different phone. I was able to reactivate an older LG V20 and it worked fine, but uses a different SIM (apparently the SIM cards aren't compatible between the two).

 

[mustang7757]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Sprint replaced the SIM back when the issue first started (about a month ago).

Understand, but still like to see if it's same issue in another phone, meantime you can try reset network in settings and APN reset

 

[clh42]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Unfortunately, no way to test in another phone. Already tried network reset and APN reset, both before and after a full factory reset.

 

[mustang7757]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Unfortunately, no way to test in another phone. Already tried network reset and APN reset, both before and after a full factory reset.

You run out of options to try with the phone, might want call your carrier explain the situation again.

 

[clh42]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Already been through everything with the carrier too, multiple times.

 

[mustang7757]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Already been through everything with the carrier too, multiple times.

I'm. Not sure what else we can go over, you did the following
Factory reset
Safe mode
Reset apn
Reset network
I month old Sim card

What I'm thinking
Sim issue, that's why asking if it actually works in another phone.

Or issue with phone reading the Sim card

I'm sorry to ask this silly question but is the sim inserted correctly? If it's ok take it out and try blow little compressed air.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

I wonder if this has to do with the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. I know that they recently deactivated Sprint's legacy 2.5 GHz 5G service to reconfigure it, so maybe this or something similar is having a cascade effect. If you can stand it, contact Sprint again and ask if they know if any of that band tinkering could be causing problems.

Also, are you able to update the PRL? www.sprint.com/en/landings/preferred/roaming-list.html

 

[clh42]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

What I'm thinking
Sim issue, that's why asking if it actually works in another phone.

Or issue with phone reading the Sim card

I'm sorry to ask this silly question but is the sim inserted correctly? If it's ok take it out and try blow little compressed air.

I don't blame you for asking, but yes, the sim is inserted correctly. The phone worked fine for 10 months and just suddenly had this issue one day. One day it worked, and the next day it didn't. The phone just sat overnight, plugged in charging. Wasn't even powered off or power cycled or anything.

I did take your suggestion and pull out the sim and blow compressed air in. It's the type with a slot and tray on the side that has to be popped out using the small tool, so I don't have direct access to the contacts inside the phone, but I did blow compressed air inside the slot. I also cleaned the contacts on the sim with 99% isopropyl alcohol. Didn't help.

Tomorrow I'm going to go back in to the store and have them swap the sim one more time.

I wonder if this has to do with the T-Mobile/Sprint merger. I know that they recently deactivated Sprint's legacy 2.5 GHz 5G service to reconfigure it, so maybe this or something similar is having a cascade effect. If you can stand it, contact Sprint again and ask if they know if any of that band tinkering could be causing problems.

Also, are you able to update the PRL? www.sprint.com/en/landings/preferred/roaming-list.html

I was LITERALLY going to just post and ask the same thing. I read a couple other posts in various places on other issues that said apparently Sprint has started to migrate people over to the T-Moblie network, and it has caused issues for them.

Or, it is an unlocked phone that is supposed to support all 4 major carriers. Maybe if Sprint did something on my account to add T-Mobile, the phone is getting confused between the services and doesn't know what to do? That's just a totally wild guess though.

I did ask Sprint if they saw anything on my account that might account for the issue, but they said no. But I didn't specifically ask about anything related to the T-Mobile merger. I might do that.

But Sprint also DID say, back when this started, that they were working on my local tower, but didn't give any details. And I drove about 20 miles away to be sure to hit other towers and still had the issue.

I have updated the PRL, and Profile, several times. Doesn't help.

This seems like a totally weird issue, to have a working 4G connection but no voice or text. I'd think I'd either have NO cell connection at all, or that I'd have voice and text but not data. To have the opposite, working 4G but no voice or text, seems like there has to be something specific somewhere causing it. Maybe sim related, but hard to say. Network, maybe. And how does LG even troubleshoot that without a working connection to the Sprint network when I send the phone in for warranty repair?

 

[mustang7757]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Give it a try with Sim also ask them and show them what your phone doing while your there maybe they can figure something out, and ask about the merger also.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

This seems like a totally weird issue, to have a working 4G connection but no voice or text. I'd think I'd either have NO cell connection at all, or that I'd have voice and text but not data. To have the opposite, working 4G but no voice or text, seems like there has to be something specific somewhere causing it. Maybe sim related, but hard to say. Network, maybe. And how does LG even troubleshoot that without a working connection to the Sprint network when I send the phone in for warranty repair?

It makes me wonder if the phone is having problems with VoLTE. So it's using your 4G connection for data, but can't use it for voice/text (and it's not using 2G or 3G, possibly because Sprint has sunset its 2G/3G network, or is planning on it soon).

 

[clh42]

Re: LG G8 Amazon Alexa edition with Sprint, can't make or receive phone calls or texts, but DO have

Does this trigger any additional thoughts for anyone?

I stumbled across the setting to change the mobile network. I set it specifically to CDMA (defaults to "Automatic"), and viola!, I have voice and text! But only 3G data of course.

If I change it back to Automatic, or even specifically "LTE/CDMA," without restarting the phone, the data does switch back to 4G and voice and text still work. But as soon as I restart the phone, the voice/text break again. (If I leave it at CDMA only, I can restart the phone and voice/text stays working.)

I spent another hour on the phone (from my work phone) with Sprint today. I found the above as they were having me do various other resets (again), and check other settings.

I specifically asked about T-Mobile being added to my account, and they SAID that wasn't the case for me, but I don't entirely trust that the techs I talked to actually knew what I was asking.

They also did re-confirm that they are upgrading the towers in my area. When my problem first started in early June, it was one tower, then they said it was another tower late June, and now yet a 3rd. So they are just upgrading the towers in the area in sequence. So that MAY or may not have anything to do with the issue. But my local Sprint store, about half-mile from my house, says no one else is complaining of issues.

On a separate note, I was doing some additional searching last night and discovered that T-Mobile had a massive, nationwide outage starting on June 15. (Just search for T-Mobile outage and there are bunches of articles about it.) My issue started on June 7/8 (the week before), but could be related. Apparently it also affected some Sprint customers. I CAN'T find any info that says it's resolved yet. BUT, some users reported the exact issue I'm having, Data worked, but not voice or text. (Others said various combinations of the 3 worked or didn't work, so it wasn't consistent.)

 

[B. Diddy]

I remember the T-Mobile outage -- it was due to human error, when a technician messed up some network configuration. It was fixed by the next day, so I don't think that could be a lingering issue for you.

What you describe makes me suspect even more that this has to do with a VoLTE problem. When you switch to CDMA (I guess Sprint hasn't shut down its CDMA network yet), it works because the phone is using the old 2G network for voice/text. When you're on Automatic, it sounds like the phone for whatever reason is using LTE only for data, and can't get it connected with VoLTE.

Not sure why the problem comes back after a reboot. Are you habitually rebooting the phone, or just letting it sleep? If you switch back to Automatic or LTE/CDMA and it works for both voice and date, then avoid rebooting/restarting -- just let the phone sleep and wake it when you need it.

 

[clh42]

I did the reboot as testing/troubleshooting. No, I don't normally reboot on a regular basis, so yes, I can do that. But that shouldn't be how I have to live it going forward indefinitely.

So my main question at this point is, is it more likely the phone that's the issue, or the Sprint network, maybe due to the tower work they're doing in the area?

The phone has 1 month of warranty left on it. I sent it in once already and LG couldn't find anything wrong with it. I could send it again, but I'm running out of time. Maybe with this additional info they can do more detailed testing on it. And if they still don't find anything wrong with it...?

If we think it's likely the network, I'm happy to wait it out for a while, especially now that I can get it to work by changing the network type.

MOSTLY at this point, I want to make sure I don't get stuck with a faulty phone after the warranty expires.

 

[B. Diddy]

I'm no network technician, but it could be a combination of the phone and the network -- i.e., the phone is designed to latch onto the LTE signal and turn on VoLTE appropriately, but perhaps something with the Sprint network that has to do with the merger is messing that up.

 

[BergerKing]

Call Sprint and talk to customer service. They may need to re-provision your phone to get the network back. Happened to me once a few years back. Had data, but no texts or phone service. Fortunately, my wife was with me, and I used her phone. They walked me through several things that finally got it sorted.

 

[clh42]

I'm no network technician, but it could be a combination of the phone and the network -- i.e., the phone is designed to latch onto the LTE signal and turn on VoLTE appropriately, but perhaps something with the Sprint network that has to do with the merger is messing that up.

To rephrase a bit, everything worked fine with this phone and Sprint until June 8. Then it just suddenly started having this issue. So something "broke." Although it's possible, it's not likely that both the phone and the network "broke" at the same time. So I'm wondering, again mostly tied to the fact that the phone has 1 month of warranty left, does this kind of issue sound like something in the phone could have suddenly physically broken that needs repair? Or more likely a network issue preventing the phone from connecting, and the phone itself is physically ok?

I wrote LG support again last night mentioning this new info, that the voice/text works on CDMA, and asked their thought. This was their response... "is it possible to check with your service provider if they can provide a new APN settings for your mobile data?" I've done an APN reset several times, but I've never done anything with "new" APN settings. Is it likely Sprint will be able to give me different APN settings than I already have?

But I also checked the specific APN settings. I see two different APNs listed that are selectable by radio buttons One is named cinet.spcs, and the other is n.ispn. n.ispn is the one that is currently selected. I tried changing it to cinet.spcs. I saw the 4G indicator disappear, then about 10 seconds later the selection automatically switches back to n.ispn and the 4G indicator comes back. But that doesn't fix the voice/text issue.

Call Sprint and talk to customer service. They may need to re-provision your phone to get the network back. Happened to me once a few years back. Had data, but no texts or phone service. Fortunately, my wife was with me, and I used her phone. They walked me through several things that finally got it sorted.

I'm not 100% sure but I THINK they did this while I was on with them yesterday. The tech didn't use the specific term "reprovision" but there was a point at which she told me to not touch the phone while she reset something from her end.

Also, I'm not sure if this would have the same effect but I have switched back and forth between this phone and an older phone being activated on my plan about 4 times in the last 2 weeks. So if "reprovisioning" is basically reactivating the phone, then that's already been done, a few times.

But if reprovisioning is something different, then it's worth a shot.