My Fairphone 4 wasn’t able to connect to 2G networks from the beginning (I got it in January 2022).
If I go to manually select network operator, I can see 2G networks, but if I try to connect, it tells me that it wasn’t able to establish a connection, regardless which network I choose. I tested it of course with the one I’m on, but also with all the others available here in Austria. I also tested it in Germany with all available operators with the same result.
So far this hasn’t really been an issue, but now this has become a showstopper issue for me, because they just turned off 3G in my city.
My contract has no 5G. My network provider for some reason only allows VoLTE only for Samsung, Apple and Pixel devices. 3G has been turned off, and I can’t connect to any 2G.
Wifi calling is also not supported by my network provider.
So now I have no way of using my phone to make or receive phone calls.
I tried swapping my SIM with my wife, but on either SIM she can connect to 2G and I can’t, so it’s not the SIMs fault.
Has anyone had this issue before? Is there a known reason or workaround for that?
If I can’t get this to work in the next days, this will be the end of my time with Fairphone.
I’ve put up with all the other [insert expletive here] and bugs they’ve been serving for the last 2 years, but if I can’t even call anyone, that phone literally isn’t a phone any more.
Hi,
4G (LTE) should be the alternative for those who have no 5G contract. 2G (GPRS, EDGE) with max. 470 kbit/s brutto is definitely not enough for current mobile Internet usage.
Does your phone connect to 4G?
Did you check/reset your APN?
It‘s not about Internet access, but using the Fairphone for calls. As neither VoLTE nor VoWifi is supported by the provider on a Fairphone, a 2G connection is mandatory.
I can connect to 4G, and internet works fine over it. The issue here is that the ability to make a call over 4G (called VoLTE) is not a standard feature in 4G networks, and it needs to be supported by the network provider for each specific phone. My network provider only supports VoLTE for Samsung, Pixel and Apple, not for Fairphone.
So while I can use 4G for internet and RCS without issues, calls don’t work, neither incoming nor outgoing.
So far, my phone was able to fallback to 3G for calling, but now that 3G is gone, the only remaining option is 2G, which still exists here, but that my phone cannot access.
Is in your country and your provider 2G still active?
In the Netherlands Odido already shut down 2G.
Kpn will do it december 2025 and Vodafone said they will continue 2G till the end of 2026.
Hello Lidwien! Thanks for your reply! Yeah, my country is Ukraine, and we are shutting down 3G instead while 2G and 4G still work. But 4G calls, SMS, USSD doesent work… I don’t know why, maybe I need to investigate…
I couldn’t find a solution and support never answered to my request. So my only option was to switch over to a Samsung and finally have a phone where everything just works and there are no broken basic features like using a phone as a phone.
2G works just fine on my Samsung, my wife’s Samsung, my son’s Samsung, my old Moto Z Play, my wife’s old Honor 8 Lite, my old Droid 3 and even my ancient HTC Universal with the same sim on the same carrier.
If every other phone works just fine on that carrier, I don’t care who the blame is put on. The FP4 is the only phone I could get my hands on where 2G doesn’t work on my carrier, and it’s also the only 4G capable phone I could get my hands on where VoLTE doesn’t work on with my carrier.
If the phone doesn’t do calls, I don’t care who the fault is put on. I can’t use it.
Same issue here in Austria with network provider Spusu - I cannot make phone calls via 4G since Spusu does not support this for FP4, also 2G does not work. Spusu told me they tried to get support from Fairphone but FP did not respond their requests - I’ve reached out to FP two months ago and support has never responded. Does anyone know about a solution? My FP4 is hardly 3 years old by now and it is disappointing that the basic function of the phone does not work anymore…
As responded in the other thread, since Wednesday all problems with Spusu are gone.
FP4 is still working again. No call issues anymore, data during calls available, everything is fine.
Same here. We bought two phones in 2022 and I’ve been using mine in Ukraine since then. Initially I could switch networks on 2g, go into roaming but somewhere in 2024 calls over 2g stopped to work. I tried 3 mobile carriers, eSim, Nothing changes.
Providers say 2g is enabled for the model. It doesn’t connect, though. And to add an insult to an injury stupid me, just bought replacement battery with hopes that it will work for another 5 years.
I guess some security update broke the 2g functionality. But it was not tested as EU ditched 2g networks. Maybe it happened when Andoid 13 got installed?
Could somebody suggest a way to install an older version. Or unlock bootloaded and root the device altogether and install some Ubuntu touch?
while 2G and 4G still work. But 4G calls, SMS, USSD doesent work… I don’t know why, maybe I need to investigate…