Samsung Galaxy s9 speaker phone is muffled

[Mmassey71]

My husband and I both have the same issue (S9 and S9+ respectively), and it's REALLY annoying because we use speaker phone 90+% of the time (car, 3 kids at home). They're both brand new, T-Mobile, not unlocked if that matters. Sounds like the person on the other end is distantly under water, and gets worse as the conversation goes on so that it becomes almost 100% of the time. It's often ok for the first few minutes, but not always. We just upgraded from our S7 phones that we had zero issue with, using them in the same way. Anyone figure anything out yet?

Yep I'm having this issue with my S9. My husband hates for me to talk to him using speaker phone because he can't understand what I'm saying most of the time.

 

[Bgzd]

My wife and I purchased two of the S9+ and we both experience the speaker phone issue. It is discouraging to be experiencing a problem that others have reported existed on their last generation Samsung as well, what does that say for the hopes of seeing a fix? I'm new to Samsung and so is my wife, she's new to Android infact, I came from a Pixel. So far I've experienced more technical issues with this big beautiful phone than I care to admit, total lockups, app crashes, etc, that I'm having a hard time not getting frustrated.

The thing is, at the core of everything this thing does, being a phone is still it's primary function so I expect it to do it very well. Speaker phone is a super basic function and in a $850+ phone (heck in a $50 phone) I expect it to work. We use it all the time (or should say used to) and now we just can't use it. It literally sounds like the person on the other end has two bags wrapped around their head, is standing behind glass and trying to talk threw it, absolutely unintelligible.

Things I miss about my Pixel:
OS stability and regular updates, it never locked up (this does maybe twice a month requiring hard reboot)

Speakerpone worked.

Autocorrect/Predictive text on stock keyboard actually worked (this one corrects real words to nonsense).

Camera could take pictures of moving objects (this one is amazing but even the slightest movemdnt results in a blur)

Google Assistant baked in and seemingly more reliable to voice commands (Bixby sucks! I mean better than Siri but not a tall bar).

Built-in Visual Voicemail on the Phone app. (Have to use Verizon's app)

Admittedly my list of things I like better about this phone is larger than my list of cons but technical issues seriously erk me.

Thank you Samsung for not killing the headphone jack, it's the primary reason you won me over, now just fix my short list and this love affair can continue for generations.

 

[irock1985]

So the only "fix" I've come across is to knock your phone back down to 2G but of course you'll also be killing all of your internet speed...

 

[DLKeener1953]

This is obviously a problem, the wife and I have the S9+ and S9 and have this problem...surely Samsung has employees that read this...and they are on it....however, I've also come to realize that what should be, they don't....common sense.

 

[AK-404]

Same problem. Not just with speakerphone, but also just every day calling: without speakerphone and using a mic'd headphones. The person on the other end can not hear me properly. Can we please get this problem bumped up to someone in Samsung?! Is this the case with most Samsung phones?? I deliberately switched from iPhone for the operating system.... and now the main function for a phone AKA calling is now rendered useless.

 

[jlovrek]

I am glad I found this thread. I thought it was just me but I was with Verizon and had the issue with my S8+ that I purchased unlocked from Samsung and went to T-Mobile, still same issue. I was told it was the case so I drilled the holes to make them bigger, still same issue. I then purchase S9+ hoping it will be fixed and no go, still same issue. people on the other end either cant hear me or they say I am muffled. I finally get fed up and plugin in my Samsung earphones and then it works fine. I have no problem hearing them, its them hearing me and no case mods or hardware resets will fix the issue. I have a warranty through Samsung still but I don't want a refurbished or phone that had to be worked on, so I am kinda stuck as I know the phone they send back will be used or taken apart.

 

[MikiA16]

Just bought my S9 can only hear caller if turn I on the speaker. Very frustrated. Most callers say I am muffled.

 

[Jessica Smith 1234]

Just bought my S9 can only hear caller if turn I on the speaker. Very frustrated. Most callers say I am muffled.

Any luck, other than degrading our quality from LTE to 3G?

Seems a pretty crappy fix.

 

[lucianus_luciferus]

Try disabling volte calls in settings, connections, mobile networks

 

[Hermes Hidayat]

When I use the speakerphone the other person hears me muffled. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesn't. I noticed that of I hold the phone up or if I use it during the call, it won't act up as much.

Try turning off noise cancelation.

 

[mark.mywords]

Have had Samsung for 15+ years and never had this problem, but just reading this thread is frustrating. People really think these phones would be rated the best phone in the world if there was such a basic problem with them that has "been around for years" that the company "refuses to fix."???

What makes your phone different from most others that could affect the hardware on it? How about the case you have wrapped around the hardware. Next time it happens, remove it from the case mid call. My guess is this will solve your problem. I'm not an expert and it's just a guess, but that just makes a little more sense.

That has often been my wife's problem with her iPhone.

 

[Jeff Alger]

Just got off the phone with customer support. I have had 4 of the S9+ They just did a trouble shoot to my area. No issues found. I use the phone at a medical office pharmacists call me back and sometimes make mistakes because they can't hear me. They say its muffled and breaking up. I have a samsung case #. The lady states over a month ago that they were aware and were going to send out an update. Has not been done yet. I am going to get the Note 9.and try it. Most states are making phone use have to be hands free. T mobile suggests NOT using bluetooth.and the speaker phone is worthless.

 

[B Bp]

I am also experiencing the same problem. Obviously a problem with the phone. Mine is only a week old

 

[egiiia]

Just got off the phone with customer support. I have had 4 of the S9+ They just did a trouble shoot to my area. No issues found. I use the phone at a medical office pharmacists call me back and sometimes make mistakes because they can't hear me. They say its muffled and breaking up. I have a samsung case #. The lady states over a month ago that they were aware and were going to send out an update. Has not been done yet. I am going to get the Note 9.and try it. Most states are making phone use have to be hands free. T mobile suggests NOT using bluetooth.and the speaker phone is worthless.

I'm having the same issues. I'm on my second S9 and they have a case number in to give me a third. I have talked to at least ten people now about the issue between Samsung and AT&T. No one seems to know what I am talking about or how to fix it. They even claim that no one else is having this problem but yet I find one discussion page after another from people describing my exact issue. They seriously need to do a recall. I am so tired of dealing with this. Paying $900 for a phone that doesn't work properly to communicate is absolute fraud in my opinion. I am at the point where I am done with both the phone manufacturer and my mobile service from the lack of help I've received.

 

[SeeBeatty]

Well, I'm seeing (or I should say, hearing the complaint from others) when I call on my new Note 9!

 

[Jimmy Le1]

I have an S9 also and am having the same issues I've already returned one phone and got another one and this one is also having the same issues I called Verizon and spoke to them we found that my phone was on global also I had to go in to my settings and go to advanced calling and shut my hd calling off and so far my phone has been working the way its supposed to. In order to shut off the hd I had to go in to connections and then click on advanced calling and turn it off.

Does this also disable video callings ?

 

[mustang7757]

since reading these comments, I'm experiencing same in speaker mode with no option to uncheck hd calling

 

[Trixz 2007]

I myself can agreed there a issue with microphone while using speakerphone.

I do alot ot mobile gaming with speaker putting out loud noise it seems mic is trying to noise cancellation. With that my mic volume is low for in game voice chatting.

I also used livestreaming apps examples liveme to go live everybody can not hear me. I never had this issue with previous phones but after doing research seems like a huge factor in galaxy phones.

Pay all this money to enjoy all its beautiful features but for gamers/livestreamers this phone is useless. We are having to go go out and pay more for external mics since samsung cant provide decent microphones ..

 

[Bill E1]

I can't find HD calling to turn it off. Is it a carrier thing? I have At&t

I can confirm that once i turned hd calling off it cleared right up

Im on Verizon network by the way

 

[Bob Ricci]

I have the same exact problem on my Samsung Galaxy S9+ using Verizon. I usually use speakerphone. It's quite annoying to be told that you sound muffled on that the volume on the recipient send but then the problem creeps back in again. The top microphone Port is not blocked nor is the bottom. I am completely up to date and this issue has been going on for years. One would think Samsung would have taken care of this by now. It's not your fault.