Cellular Network Connectivity development

[notforhire]

Earlier this year, I started a thread in this forum on some network connectivity issues I'd been having. Short version...still happening. It became more interesting when the same thing started happening on the bride's S23U. We are both unlocked from Samsung. The issues are:

1) occasional difficulty receiving calls - mostly they go straight to voicemail, though sometimes the caller gets the network beep, beep, beep indicator
2) occasional difficulty receiving texts - won't receive the text(s) until you restart the phone
3) less frequently, inability to send texts, unless you restart the phone

These issues have been a problem, as you might imagine, if it's a call from work, or an emergency call from a family member.....and this has happened more than once. We've tried to trouble-shoot by converting to eSIM, using WiFi calling, wiping cache partition and repairing apps. The obvious problem with any of those efforts is that it's occurring on multiple devices, not just a single phone.

We're running on TMO sims, and until this year, we have never had a problem with them. SO, I got TMO involved. I've been dealing with their technical support for a little over a week now. It's agreed that the devices are not the problem. Software is up-to-date, etc. The towers are running just fine (per the TMO engineers). We only experience this problem while at home...no signal extender/booster required. Very strong 5GUC signal at the house.

Diagnosis: TMO is speculating that we are located equidistant between two competing towers, and our phones are bouncing back and forth while looking for the strongest signal.

Question: while this makes sense on its face (to me), has anyone else run across this scenario? fwiw, TMO has been very helpful and working hard to address this.

 

[J Dubbs]

Maybe try turning 5G off while at home? 5G is going to be in the rollout phase for a while to come... other folks have reported having connection problems even with a good 5G signal.

 

[notforhire]

Maybe try turning 5G off while at home? 5G is going to be in the rollout phase for a while to come... other folks have reported having connection problems even with a good 5G signal.

that has potential. I'm not opposed to that at all. the only question that arises is how to explain the excellent 5G service at the same location the previous two years. it's a puzzle.

in order to deal with one variable at a time, I'll wait till after my next follow-up with TMO on Thursday before killing 5G at home.

 

[B. Diddy]

How often does this happen? Have you ever noticed this when you're on a trip away from home?

If it happens pretty frequently, then try testing in Safe Mode. If you and your wife install similar apps, it's possible that one of them could be causing issues.

 

[notforhire]

How often does this happen? Have you ever noticed this when you're on a trip away from home?

If it happens pretty frequently, then try testing in Safe Mode. If you and your wife install similar apps, it's possible that one of them could be causing issues.

never happens away from the house. only happens a few times a week. additionally, there are occasions when I glance at my phone and notice that I have no cellular signal at all...lasts about 30 seconds or so.

 

[B. Diddy]

never happens away from the house. only happens a few times a week. additionally, there are occasions when I glance at my phone and notice that I have no cellular signal at all...lasts about 30 seconds or so.

Ok, then it certainly does sound like a network issue in your location. Have you checked with any of your neighbors who are also on T-Mobile to see if they've had similar problems?

 

[notforhire]

Ok, then it certainly does sound like a network issue in your location. Have you checked with any of your neighbors who are also on T-Mobile to see if they've had similar problems?

not that intimately familiar with my neighbors

 

[B. Diddy]

not that intimately familiar with my neighbors

Not a bad way to introduce yourself -- it's the "can I borrow a cup of sugar" of the 21st century!

 

[mustang7757]

Not a bad way to introduce yourself -- it's the "can I borrow a cup of sugar" of the 21st century!

Ha
These days I will be surprised if you know more than 2 neighbors

 

[mustang7757]

not that intimately familiar with my neighbors

Did you try the network reset in settings?
Are you using Esim or sim card? If asim card have you tried another?

 

[notforhire]

Did you try the network reset in settings?
Are you using Esim or sim card? If asim card have you tried another?

we are now using eSIM. we have not reset network settings (yet). however, since multiple lines are experiencing the problem, fixes for individual devices seems pointless. even after escalation with TMO, they agree it's a network issue, not a device issue. I referenced their tentative diagnosis above.

 

[mustang7757]

we are now using eSIM. we have not reset network settings (yet). however, since multiple lines are experiencing the problem, fixes for individual devices seems pointless. even after escalation with TMO, they agree it's a network issue, not a device issue. I referenced their tentative diagnosis above.

Yeah I agree with that if multiple lines have this issue.

 

[notforhire]

Yeah I agree with that if multiple lines have this issue.

I'll report back here after my call with TMO on Thursday.

 

[mustang7757]

I'll report back here after my call with TMO on Thursday.

Ok

 

[Laura Knotek]

I'll report back here after my call with TMO on Thursday.

Good luck. Please let us know if they resolve the issue and what they say is the cause.

 

[notforhire]

Good luck. Please let us know if they resolve the issue and what they say is the cause.

I will.

 

[notforhire]

UPDATE: because it appears that we are equidistant between 2 sectors/towers, TMO attempted to make one more dominant for our situation. In the past week we have, to our knowledge, not had any more issues where people cannot call us (straight to vm, etc.).

However, yesterday morning, my daughter sent me and my bride a group text...3 in fact. My bride got the texts. I did not. After restarting my phone, the texts from my daughter, one from my bride, and one from my brother all landed at once. About 4 hours later, my bride was unable to reply to a text. After restarting her phone, problem solved.

Today's talk with TMO extended the trouble ticket escalation for several more days. They were grateful for the specific issues and time information. Now we wait.

 

[notforhire]

UPDATE 2: spoke with TMO middle of last week. the trouble ticket is still open, meaning no updates in the system from the engineers. to my knowledge, we have not experienced any more problems in the last week and a half. I'm anticipating the closing of the ticket, though I'm going to try to get the official explanation and fix from TMO to share here. have a great day, everyone.

 

[notforhire]

UPDATE (final ): My phone (and my bride's) started acting up with abandon a few days ago. Specifically, network issues. I missed a call from my attorney, my brother, and the bride missed a call from our son. Yesterday with TMO technical support, their only solution was the information that a new tower is scheduled to be installed in our area first quarter of 2024. Obviously, that isn't a solution. Secondarily, the tech walked me through the following steps: settings > connections > mobile networks > network operators > select automatically (default toggled on).

He directed me to toggle that off, and when the TMO network populated in the list below to select that.
Restart the device.
After 3 hours, or so, go back in and toggle on Select Automatically. (I did this on both phones)
By doing this, we "reregistered" with the TMO network.

Meanwhile, he performed a network refresh for both of our devices. He was persuaded that we would see marked improvement. Interestingly, while I was on the phone with him, he was looking at my bride's device and noticed she was having real difficulty/instability with the network.

IF this fixes the problem, this is my last post on this subject. If not, we'll pick back up where we started. I hope this information is helpful.

 

[Laura Knotek]

UPDATE (final ): My phone (and my bride's) started acting up with abandon a few days ago. Specifically, network issues. I missed a call from my attorney, my brother, and the bride missed a call from our son. Yesterday with TMO technical support, their only solution was the information that a new tower is scheduled to be installed in our area first quarter of 2024. Obviously, that isn't a solution. Secondarily, the tech walked me through the following steps: settings > connections > mobile networks > network operators > select automatically (default toggled on).

He directed me to toggle that off, and when the TMO network populated in the list below to select that.
Restart the device.
After 3 hours, or so, go back in and toggle on Select Automatically. (I did this on both phones)
By doing this, we "reregistered" with the TMO network.

Meanwhile, he performed a network refresh for both of our devices. He was persuaded that we would see marked improvement. Interestingly, while I was on the phone with him, he was looking at my bride's device and noticed she was having real difficulty/instability with the network.

IF this fixes the problem, this is my last post on this subject. If not, we'll pick back up where we started. I hope this information is helpful.

I hope that works for both of you. It would be nice if T-mobile installs a new tower sooner than 1st quarter of next year.