Little h where my 4g should be.

[Android Central Question]

Back in probably August, I started noticing a little h where my 4g usually is. It only appeared when I tried to make a phone call. I'll go from having full bars and 4g to one bar and a little h when I try to call someone or a call comes through.

Its gotten to the point now where I drop calls and calls won't come through. I spent 4hrs on the phone with customer service with no answers on why my phone is suddenly doing this. It ended with me doing a factory reset on my device with no change happening. I went to both an AT&T and Verizon store in town but neither of them had any idea either as to why it was doing what it is doing.

I'm not super tech savvy but I can usually figure things out. Any suggestions would be welcome. Texts work fine, internet has started to become spotty and I'm starting to roam for some reason now. I live in a town of about 20,000 so not bank woods hole but not super big either.

I have a Galaxy A51 through track phone. It bounces off at&t towers.

 

[mustang7757]

Try resetting the APN, is the sim card old?

I'll leave a Link to register so you can communicate here, As a guest account you can only post questions but can't reply
https://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=409154

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! That sounds like what happens when your phone isn't using VoLTE -- it's dropping down to 3G to make the call, rather than staying on 4G LTE to make the call over LTE. Most carriers have sunset their 2G networks, and many are working on sunsetting 3G, so they're requiring phones on their network be compatible with VoLTE (Voice over LTE). Try calling TracFone's hotline to find out if your phone is compatible: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e....com/info/network-changes.html&token=YfRjvhyo.

 

[boydude8472]

No luck resetting APN. Still doing the same thing.

The VoLTE thing makes sense, my phone is compatible and it is active. The phone is less than a year old. The lady I talked to at AT&T said they were removing 3g towers here and if that's what my issue is my phone will cease to work come Feb.

I just (over) paid for this phone last Feb, I don't wanna buy another one already but I'm running out of options seems like.

 

[hallux]

The A51 should be at LEAST 4G capable, you shouldn't have to replace it. If it's not working properly and it's less than a year old you could explore warranty replacement.

Before you do that, try doing a reset of the network nettings. This will reset your WiFi (you'll need to reconnect to WiFi networks you've connected to before), Bluetooth and your cellular connections. I had issues with my Pixel 4a 5G, I was seeing HSPA when I should have been seeing at least 4G, I did that reset and it cleared up my issues. On the Pixel this is done in the section of settings where you would reset the phone.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

I've noticed in my area that my LTE coverage has degraded recently. I'm using AT&T sold and supported iPhone XR and Google Fi sold and supported Pixel 5a for my two primary devices. The 5a runs both Google Fi eSIM on T-Mobile network and physical SIM on AT&T network.

Both phones and both networks have seen the recent LTE degradation but it's not consistent. At lower demand times, early morning and late night, the coverage seems better. Through some deductive reasoning, I suspect 3G has been partially or completely decommissioned on a primary tower nearby. The additional VoLTE demand seems the reason for network degradation issues as 3G is being refarmed to 5G use prior to official shutdown.

Unfortunately, the need for 5G compatible devices will be the ultimate answer. I suspect our family iPhones (8's and XR's) compatibility has been lessened but have to wait and see.

 

[blueyestm]

Welcome to Android Central! That sounds like what happens when your phone isn't using VoLTE -- it's dropping down to 3G to make the call, rather than staying on 4G LTE to make the call over LTE. Most carriers have sunset their 2G networks, and many are working on sunsetting 3G, so they're requiring phones on their network be compatible with VoLTE (Voice over LTE). Try calling TracFone's hotline to find out if your phone is compatible: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e....com/info/network-changes.html&token=QukU5LmA.

There is actually a setting for att users, at least on my phone, that 2G will always be available for emergency calls. I'm wondering if op is getting put on the 2G for calls now. I actually don't get 5G near me either so having to get a 5G phone actually irked me. I have to go at least 2 hrs away for 5G service.

 

[boydude8472]

Tried resetting the network settings, no change. There's nothing wrong with the phone so warranty isn't going to do me any good. I'm convinced it's a network issue because I've noticed I've been roaming a lot now. Typically I go through 20-25g of data a month so far I've gone through 39 this month so far.

Thank you for everyone's help, I'm out of options here, going to have to go get a phone on another network.

 

[boydude8472]

*update* my phone did a system update and no issues now. Figuring it was a network issue still. Thanks everyone.

 

[mustang7757]

*update* my phone did a system update and no issues now. Figuring it was a network issue still. Thanks everyone.

Glad to hear that