T-Mobile Emergency Calls Only

[crxssi]

So tonight I tried to use my N5 at a restaurant and had apparently no cell signal- it was a hollow triangle outline that looked different from anything I had seen. They had WiFi so I used that to check the weather.

When I got home, I looked again- a hollow triangle still. I turned off wifi and still nothing. Went into quick settings and it said "Emergency Calls Only" on the button that would normally say "T-Mobile". Pressed the button and it did nothing. So I rebooted the phone and now it is back to normal, showing the signal bars and LTE.

Have never seen this happen before and have no idea what was going on but thought I would share.

 

[kd0h]

So tonight I tried to use my N5 at a restaurant and had apparently no cell signal- it was a hollow triangle outline that looked different from anything I had seen. They had WiFi so I used that to check the weather.

When I got home, I looked again- a hollow triangle still. I turned off wifi and still nothing. Went into quick settings and it said "Emergency Calls Only" on the button that would normally say "T-Mobile". Pressed the button and it did nothing. So I rebooted the phone and now it is back to normal, showing the signal bars and LTE.

Have never seen this happen before and have no idea what was going on but thought I would share.

I've had that happen when I had no signal, so you aren't the only one! I didn't have to reboot though, it just changed back once I had signal.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[crxssi]

I've had that happen when I had no signal, so you aren't the only one! I didn't have to reboot though, it just changed back once I had signal.

I have always had a signal at that restaurant in the past. And I certainly have a signal at home. It was very, very odd. At least I now know what a hollow triangle means (it means the cell radio is (inappropriate language edited by Moderator) up and you need to reboot) so I can deal with it next time.

Here is a drawing of what it looked like (it does NOT look like zero signal, which would show four faint background bars with no bright bars):

 

[flyer8493]

Bad sim card?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[crxssi]

Bad sim card?

It was new with the phone (not some old one I reused). Such sealed chips usually work or don't work (without anything inbetween) I suppose it is possible the contacts are poor or something, though.

 

[antilles76]

Could have been a temporary outage and the reboot allowed it to reconnect to the tower. I was having signal issues last night also. In Pittsburgh btw.

 

[Bront]

Sounds like a network outage where you phone didn't reconnect afterwards.

That triangle is 0 bars. I see that on occasion when I switch between 3G and 4G (I turn 4G off when I don't need it to save battery).

 

[kd0h]

I have always had a signal at that restaurant in the past. And I certainly have a signal at home. It was very, very odd. At least I now know what a hollow triangle means (it means the cell radio is (inappropriate language edited by Moderator) up and you need to reboot) so I can deal with it next time.

Here is a drawing of what it looked like (it does NOT look like zero signal, which would show four faint background bars with no bright bars):

I thought that meant it has zero signal...I thought the 4 faint bars meant low signal. I probably get the empty triangle a few 5 to 10 times a week.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[crxssi]

I thought that meant it has zero signal...I thought the 4 faint bars meant low signal. I probably get the empty triangle a few 5 to 10 times a week.

Well, I suppose it could be. I haven't seen it before, and I don't travel much, and I haven't had the N5 all that long.

 

[crxssi]

See also parts of this thread: http://forums.androidcentral.com/go...at-4-4-3-upgrade-causing-new-issues-bugs.html

And this post particularly:

"I have been having this problem very frequently since the update." http://forums.androidcentral.com/go...rade-causing-new-issues-bugs.html#post3707137

 

[Jaramie10]

My phone keeps doing this. I'll have full bars but no LTE, 3g, or 2g. Anyone else have this?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[greg frohring]

I experienced this issue as well.

I tried the following which seemed reasonable, but did not resolve; i was still stuck with "no service" "emergency calls only".

• Reboot Nexus 5
• replace sim card with another phone's sim card (but then a least i knew it wasn't an issue with the sim card)
• re-seat battery (requires very small phillip's screwdriver: pop back off, remove six screws, unclip and reclip power ribbon clip)

Then this worked for me:
re-attach internal antenna!

Sim card removal with sewing needle:


Nexus 5 coverplate (requires six very small phillips screws to be removed):


Nexus 5 antenna clip point and power ribbon clip:


A small screwdriver set, in this case a Radio Shack 04B14 set:


HTH!
-greg frohring