Cannot connect to 2G

Help Fairphone 4
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1

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.

2

Your phone is rooted? Did you check logcats? Is your wifes SIM from same operator, any chance to test one from a different operator?

You still should have warranty…

1 Like
3

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?

4

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.

1 Like
5

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.