Posting here in the hope that I might be able to help myself since FP customer service have gone quiet on me for a couple of days, with no commitment to finding a solution to my 3m-o FP6 still under warranty. I have seen a couple of threads from Sept 25 describing a similar issue and linking to another forum, but most of what they have said goes above my level of understanding.
A week ago my physical sim stopped working (UK; Three) with the phone showing an error for ‘sim not accepted’, so the carrier were able to issue me with an esim as further physical sim replacements were not accepted, suggesting it was a device issue. All was ok (sort of) working with an esim until this also stopped working and displayed the same error three days ago. Successive e-sim replacements, a factory reset and a chat with CS have not resolved the issue. CS asked me to check the functionality of the sim and esim by dialling *#*#2886#*#* and testing those processes via the ‘Manu’. The ‘test’ seems to show they are working. I assume this means that the physical mechanisms (things talking to other things) are functional.
In my very limited process of reasoning around the root of the issue, it seems to be a software problem? The bits of the previously mentioned threads that I understand suggest that it is too, but that doesn’t explain for me why it happened at an arbitrary point in time after the last and most recent build update.
I now have a non-mobile phone, and am due to travel in the next week. I’m pretty disappointed at the level of support received so far from FP for a new phone under warranty. It was clear when chatting to them that they wanted to get me off the line, so they could communicate by email and then respond at their own convenience, which has so far to not respond for 48 hours. It’s not what I expected from a company which prides itself on its sustainability and repairability of phones - but perhaps they mean for you to do it all yourself??
Thanks in advance for any suggestions on how I can resolve.. OR if anyone from FP is keeping an eye on the forum, please can you provide some support?
Hello
sorry to hear about your frustrating experience
The forum search revealed some issues with the 3 network in the UK, most - if I am not mistaken - referred to limited calls availability and were solved by checking 4G/5G/VoLTE settings.
I would imagine the CS might have asked you already to check those so I do apologise if that sounds familiar
Thanks to both @Ignacio and @Meaghan for suggestions. Can confirm the following;
The mobile data and roaming are turned on under the sim.
I have tried to manually select a network, by toggling off the ‘automatically select network’. When I do that, on the ‘Choose network’ screen, it shows a message saying ‘ couldn’t find networks, try again’.
I reset the APN to default, with no success
I didn’t mention in the original post that I also tried a physical sim from another carrier in the phone during my initial troubleshooting. It didn’t resolve the issue, ruling out it being an issue with 3 sims/esims and my FP. I have been running a FP (previously FP4) on Three for the past 2 years and not encountered issues until this past few weeks.
Thank you to everyone for the most recent contributions.
I’ve taken a couple of screen shots which might answer the APN/4g settings better than explaining in words.
As far as I can see by looking through the Network Settings tabs, I can’t locate any details of the 4g/5g settings, only to confirm that they are selected as the preferred network type - pictured.
I’ve also taken a shot of the APN settings. I don’t know what they should be, so am relying on someone else being able to confirm if there are any issues.
Ah, thanks for deleting @Meaghan - I should have thought of that issue.
@Lidwien Thank you, I couldn’t edit the existing 3 apn settings, so created a separate profile and saved it. I tried a restart, just in case that helped after selecting, but no improvement - sadly.
Hi, in my experience with APNs this is very common: one can’t edit the default ones.
But adding a new one and saving it, then selecting it has always worked for me (and been applied instantly, no reboot needed)
I don’t want to meddle too much, but I’ve had a “no network” experience before, and after much technical investigation it turned out the subscription had simply expired and no-one had paid attention to it (in an organisation, so it’s plausible I guess).
What I mean is it seems to be some kind of network “lock” blocking your plan/phone, not a software bug; especially as each new sim locks repeatedly after 3 days, right?
Selecting the alternative APN settings hasn’t had any positive effects, sadly, but I am only copying them across, so I can’t claim to have any knowledge of whether they are correct or not.
The sim/esim from Three worked for varying amounts of time after the first issue with the physical sim the week before last, so I would say there was no consistency to how they were rejected. After the issue with the physical sim, I tried my husbands, also on Three, and then went to a store to get a new sim issued, none of which worked from the get go.
The e sim the then issued as a workaround worked for (roughly) week, then, after a moment last Friday when my phone randomly crashed and restarted, that didn’t work either. I spoke to Three CS who issued three more e sims, successively over the course of a conversation where we tried various things and none of them were accepted. There is nothing wrong with my account with Three, that I can see, or that they volunteered when we were troubleshooting.
Whilst troubleshooting I also tried a physical sim from another carrier and this was not accepted either. I don’t know enough about the APN settings on this carrier to be able to do much problem solving, but my basic assumption is that if the sim is working in the other phone when I take it out to test it, and then it immediately doesn’t work in mine, the problem is within my phone and how it reads sims.
Edit: I have tested the other sim again (it wasn’t accepted) and can see no fundamental differences in how it is recognised by the phone, or in the APN settings. They are obviously different to the Three settings, but look similar in how they are set up.
Thank you for your thoughts, I really appreciate it.
Thanks Meaghan. I’ve just tried it on 4g/3g/2g and it makes no difference. 3g and below is no longer functional on Three, so I wouldn’t expect results selecting network types below that.
Edited to add 3 Network has been finalising switching off 3G completely.
I cannot see in your phone settings any option for 4G calling, could you please verify that as well with your operator? Perhaps they need to register your phone manually?
The switch happened a while ago, and as I mentioned earlier, the rest of my family are also on Three network and are having no issues, nor do their sims work in my phone. One of them is using a 6yo Samsung, it would be a fair incitement of Fairphone if their flagship device is being out performed by a relic.
The option to select 4g calling may be under the calls and sms tab, but the subheading says that for the 3UK sim, it is ‘temporarily unavailable’ and therefore I am unable to select and view options.
Thank for you detailed answer @ClairyWh, and I’m sorry for what it’s making you go through
I think you’re right, I didn’t think this could be possible, but I must admit this really looks like a software bug on the phone.
If it were me, I’d probably attempt to re-flash the Operating System, but this can get technical quickly (even if there are good tutorials, I’m not up to date on what is recommended, is the web flasher still a thing? never has been my bad.)
If support was reactive for you, they should offer something at this stage
It should be in the sim tab just underneath, but I guess if you have no network at all, it’s normal the option can’t be activated?
Thanks for sharing @Ganth! Took the initiative and contacted CS again - which has prompted them to allow me to send my phone for a warranty repair (they think its a physical rather than software issue). I have to take their word for it, or at least their offer of support, even though it is likely to take around 2 weeks for the repair. .
I’ll update the thread when it gets returned. Thanks for all your support.
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