I have a lot of audio problems including it cutting out midcall a lot. I now know that going onto speakerphone means they can then hear me but turning that off just goes back to the same issue. I need to get this sorted as it’s massively inconvenient for my only phone and some places aren’t suitable for speakerphone use- either too noisy for the mike or quiet and/or the chat is confidential
Never mind it working with the lovely XL Fairbuds (expensive desk decor only currently!!) which I’m currently treating as a lost cause- the audio from the buds bone condution mike (?) clips horribly when tested. Which may be related to the main issue…
Call audio drops mid call -with a lot of elderly relatives on my call roster who cant drive a mobile phone well it has taken time to work out it really is me & my phone. I’ve changed to a better network but that just seems to have made the wifi calling not work most of the time! (Like 90%) At home we have BT Wifi and I was on EE for my FP6 which are now the same company. That sort of worked but lots of calls were missed as the phone signal was dire and the wifi link unreliable to start with. I moved to ecotalk carried by 3 which means I can sometimes make calls on the network but the audio fails randomly mid call.
I already had issues with calls dropping before changing network- the only way to get any audio input from my side is to go to speakerphone but that is often not ideal (noisy environment my end or quiet place where loud calls are not welcome or confidential work calls). And the audio is not triggered to recover, it simply stays off. Rebooting and updates do not seem to have solved.
Any ideas as this is deeply disappointing and a problem for my work!
Same problem here. I already returned my first FP6 because of this problem. Now my second one has the same problem.
During a call (not all) after a few minutes the person on the other end reports they can’t hardly hear me and a few seconds later they don’t hear me at all, whil I can still hear the other person.
I already downgrade the conection to 4G, because I noticed it happened with calls marked as HD or HD+, but the problem remains.
My brother, who has the same phone, has the exact same problem.
Hope FP has a solution to this problem for now I turned back to my reliable but outdated Samsung until there is a solution.
Dirk
Oh not just me then!! Thanks for that Dirk. It’s so disappointing as my FP3 and FP3+ were so good and I’m a sustainability consultant so I like to walk the talk. I’m going to contact them.
HOLY XXXX. The website help functions do not work, there is no phone number to call and the live help agents are only available for 4 hours a day.
What is happening @Fairphone_CM ? Your customer service used to be really good!
I cannot get in contact about my fairly major problems with my FP6. Because:
- The repair portal does not work- it sticks on the product selection screen.
- The diagnosis page dumps me into Dutch (which I do not speak- I do speak French and German possibly well enough but it doesn’t put me into those).
- If I select UK and English, at any point, it resets to Dutch or the rest of the page does not work.
- The email request screen tries to take me to the diagnosis/repair screens and those do not work so that can’t work either. This is bad.
- The AI agent’s script is limited so it keeps looping back to the start (you will find at least one 1-star feedback for this combination).
- Because the live agents’ hours are so limited and I’m an hour behind in the UK it’s quite tricky to be online at exactly the right 2 hours slot (although now I know this and can’t use any other way to get in touch, I shall be trying!)
This is my main and only personal and work phone.
We have two close relatives in hospital seriously ill and a lot going on to wrangle work, life and that, which is why it’s taken a while to get the time to chase this up. While I can manage the issue (sort of) it does lead to a lot of callers hanging up before I can get the speakerphone on (and definitely can’t do that if I am driving). This is an expensive new ethical phone and this is a known issue reported by a number of users, sadly. Including my work buddy who has exactly the same issue!
So, I have to try and be in and on the laptop during the narrow 2 hours slot this afternoon to try and get help- difficult, I have visits to cram in!
So @Fairphone_CM- what’s happening?
Hello
@Julie_Winnard reaching support can feel like a challenge, regrettably. However, I have just tried the self-repair portal as it had worked for me in the past, and it worked again. Could you try a different browser perhaps?
both your and @DirkV issues look - to me - like the combination of software and network provider issues. The forum reported bad experience with 3 network. Perhaps there are some settings that you could talk to your provider about, for example related to WiFi calling? Obviously I do not exclude the hardware issues, and troubleshooting via the self-repair portal will most likely suggest some testing.
@DirkV welcome to the community forum. Are and your brother’s devices are on the same network?
No that I say 4 hours is good however until recently it was only 2hours in the morning! Phone support was already stopped 2-3 years ago. The Repair Portal should work in EN.
What does your provider say?
How old is the SIM?
What are your WifiCalling subsettings?
Which OS do you use e/OS or Fairphone OS?
Hi @Meaghan I will try another browser BUT I work and I do have stuff I ahve to do- already 3 hours on this. The Ai told me to use the app but it has exactly the same issues with dodgy functionality and suddenly switching to Dutch as it is using the same portal- and in the app I cannot reach the setting to switch it back to English! Given this is the FP app for the FP phone on a know OS (Android) this is really poor.
The problem with dropping call audio happens when I am outside of any wifi connection, began when I bought this FP6 and has persisted whether I am (rarely) on Wifi calling or the actual network.
So it must be a h/w and/or s/w problem in the phone. It is also experienced by plenty of other people.
Hi Meaghan,
No, we’re not on the same network. We’re both on dutch networks. I’m on KPN and he is on Vodafone.
As far as I know KPN is one of the best in Holland, and since Fairphone is Dutch also I would not expect any problems.
Thanks for getting back to me.
With the new/repaired device facing the same issue, it feels like software and network combination. So perhaps Yvmuell’s questions would be helpful to troublehoot?
Hi yvmuell,
My provider says send it in for repair, but I don’t think it’s a hardware issue because it occurred on my previous FP6 and also on my brother’s (who is on a different network).
So I hope it can be solved by a software update or a setting.
My SIM is 4 months old (as old as the phone).
I don’t use Wifi calling it also happens when I’m outside out of reach from my Wifi
And I use Android
My SIM is a brand new e-SIM. The OS is Android.
I used the network (EE) perfectly fine before and my BT homeWifi- I am now on ecotalk which also uses EE (not 3 as I was wrngly informed by someone else)- in face I have 5G for the first time ever now.
The problems only started with the new phone a few months ago.
If I try to use the My Fairphone app (which the AI has ONLY JUST told me about after 2 hours!) the app has exactly the same issues as the online portal- it reset into Dutch. And most of it does not work, plus it displays badly and I cannot access parts of the screens to get it to move forward.
As before Fairphone this is your site/app for your phone using Android and Google/ Chrome which is the Android browser- everything is up to date.
As I speak German (close to Dutch) I was able to get far enough into the app to test the hardware- the phone has a problem in the secondary microphone, it looks like, and if I hit “fail” the app tries to start some kind of support process but then fails- either it displays badly and in Dutch, or it just stops working- currently it has greyed out the cookies selection popup so I am stuck for about the 10th time.
I could honestly weep with frustration and anger at this point- I have enough other stuff going on and this should not be this hard or the support apps etc so bad. I am going to miss my meetings and activities I need to do today so I can wait in my house by my laptop for a live agent. I very much hope they can help because otherwise I shall be abandoning Fairphone products and sending back both phone and XLbuds!
PS if anyone would like to see how far I got in the My Fairphone app, it opens a support ticket screen with “diagnose the problem” in Ducth for some reason despite my language setting being english, then hangs if I tap diagnose because I cannot do anything in this screen:
To be honest it is ALSO hard to get the app portal to work because it does not respond to short taps and if you take too long the copy and paste menu pops up! I’ve also had some kind of Gemini thing switch on which blocked a bunch of screen icons and could not get rid of until I turned the phone off then on again, so there seem to be issues in the FP6 version of Android design too.
very sorry to hear about your experience, it is definitely frustrating and your feelings absolutely understandable.
Personally I would never use MyFairphone App for self-repair portal. But I would use it for internal testing (see the screenshot below)
. I cannot say what AI (TIN assistant) meant here.
If indeed your microphone is failing, I would assume you would need to send your phone for repair. In that scenario, please back up everything you have and prepare for up to two weeks without your phone.
I still think - as the issues you describe are a bit irregular - it might be software/network combo. For troubleshooting you would need to contact your provider and perhaps check a different SIM.
Good luck!
Wow. Okay
- I have managed to get hold of a live agent who is passing me to the technical team.
- We are having family emergencies with relatives in hospital seriously ill plus I use this phone for work- so I can’t just not have phone for 2 weeks. (last time ot was 6 months because Fairphone lost my phone during repair!) My old FP3+ did not work any more (apps and OS too big for it) so has been sold for spares.
- What happens if there is a design problem, as seems to be the case?
- Sounds like I just need to get another phone and get my money back for the phone and headphones.
Several hours later, nobody has been in touch by email. The agent said they would send one and so would the technical team. I feel they are either overloaded or their hours are very restricted?
sorry to hear that, hopefully they will be in touch soon.
just from the top of my head, would BT headset work for you? If it is the hardware mic issue, I would imagine they might but you mentioned Fairbuds not being used at the moment..
I had the same experience with the cookie settings in teh app
TBH I think part of the fairbuds issue is the phone pickup not working/whatever the hw/sw audio issue is. I have got an old Microsoft headset working and a one-sided lightweight one both with their own mikes, but these don’t work with the phone. The Fairbuds were for noise cancelling during loud travel like some parts of the Tube and so i could listen to podcasts or meditation tracks at night off the phone despite noisy neighbours or not disturb my family. The super useful being able to make calls in noisy places is but a distant aspiration at this point.
Mine cuts out usually during standard calls on network or wifi (Whats App frequenetly doesn’t even connect fully on calls). But when Whatsapp does connect it can often have better audio than the normal phone app!
Currently the audio does not even work at the start of calls (grrr).