No signal, bad data connection

I have the same problem! I’m so happy I’m not alone!
Did anybody already found a solution? I contacted the team about it, I hope they will answer soon. It is really annoying! I’m a general practitioner so I need to be constantly available and that is not the case with this phone.

So if there is an answer from fairphone or a solution please tell!

Thank you!

For me, it’s also becoming a problem.
My FP2 often has no connection at the office. No problem, I still have a fixed phone on my desk. And I will see those smses coming when it suddenly has a connection.

But now… We just bought a new house. You know, a house that has some insulation, right in the city center. Too much insulation, apparently: my phone has no signal in my own house :frowning:
I guess I will have to contact support, because this can’t be normal behaviour…

Same issue here.

I do neither see crashes nor are there issues with re-entering the SIM PIN. However, it seems that mobile internet works only occassionally for few seconds - sometimes on demand (e.g. open browser, whatsapp, …). Typically, the connection is lost after a short time again, even when it is used. There are phases, however, where mobile internet is enabled for hours, but no packets are recieved. Also, the mobile connection (for phone calls) shows similar behaviour. The connection is displayed to be “ok”, but calls won’t work and a bunch of missed calls will be shown some hours later, although the phone was definitely turned on and displayed working connection. Again, in some cases, calls are working after trying several times. During calls, once they are established, the connection is usually okay a few minutes.

The same provider (Germany, E-PLUS/O2) works for others at the same time and location flawlessly.
I’m running FPOOS 16.09, currently updating to 16.11.

I also have these issues. How are all of you doing with it? Replacement parts or other solutions?

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Hello everyone !

I have the same problem of loosing data connection (2G/3G/4G).
In the beginning I thought the SIM was broken so I order a new one but the problem is still here.
I tried several solutions but no results (switch to SIM 2; disable 4G; activate roaming; reset APN; disable GPS, try with another SIM…)

I’m going to open a support ticket

suggested solutions for signal problems

I had severe signal problems twice with my Fairphone 2.

App blocking signal
The first time the signal dropped when beeing indoors, still having the operator sign but I was not able to make or receive calls, nor connecting to wifi. The first suggestion was a broken contact in the hardware or the antenna. If I remember correctly (I had some chances of troubleshooting with my phone) I went to the secure mode and checked if the signal and connection to the operator worked. As it did I started deleting several apps I had installed, finding out that one app blocked the signal.

Loose Antenna:
The second time last week, the contact to the operator broke completely indoors (no operator available) or I I had low signal, changing from 4G to 2G, no signal, no operator connection. while making calls the connection broke down from one second to the other.
The phone fell on one corner (half meter hight) two days before the problem occurred, the day before I made a software update.
I went to the operator to get a new SIM which didn’t solve the problem. I checked the forum, which didn’t help me that much. I tried to contact Fairphone for repair suggestions, I set the phone back to factory settings, checked it in the save mode if any app causes the problem. neither of them helped.

I fond one post helping me. It described how to get to the antenna, which may can get loose.
When you remove the display the the Antenna can be seen on the back on the left side. Left to the microphone module the antenna is clipped on a small plastic pice covered under a small plate which you can take out (you need a small torx-wrench. The antenna can be clipped back to the piece, then you should have full signal again.
(notice, the antenna can get loos because you dropped the phone like me, or due to other reasons. it is a simple clip-connection.)

hope that may be some help.

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Hello, I’ve been having the same problem, and changed my SIM card. Then it all worked perfectly, but now I’m experiencing the same problem again. I’ve tried everything Fairphone recommends but it doesn’t change anything : signal is OK, then drops during phone calls. Or it simply drops because I’m walking and then I have to reboot the phone for signal to come back.

What should I do? Open a ticket? Mess with the antenna ? Note quite sure about doing this…

Depending on where you are located, perhaps somebody could help you with checking the antenna … fairphoneangels

Thanks for Your answer but I’m in France and apparently there are no fairphone angels around… Are you Sure it is an antenna problema? Not software? Is it easily fixable?

I don’t know, I’m not clairvoyant :slight_smile: .

You can either contact Fairphone support (calling gives faster results).

Or you can open your phone and have a look … iFixit has a teardown with pictures … you can see the antenna thing in question in Step 6 (the dark long thing that runs along the edge on the left of the phone) … and they disassemble it in Step 11, but that’s not necessary, you just have to check whether the cable is still properly connected on both ends, these are simple plug-in connections …

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Hello

I managed to solve my network connection problem (3 weeks nearly no signal) by reconnecting the antenna inside my FP as described above from Will and AnotherElk.

As I opened my phone I could pull a bit on the upper part of the black cable and noticed it’s not fix. So I slightly lifted the metal part on the top of the phone (which is not ment to be opened) and clicked it back where it belongs.

For slightly opening (without screwing) the metal coverage: in the place of the battery there is a click cap (Picture: 2) which belongs to the metal coverage. If you open it, you can carefully lift the metal coverage a little bit. Don’t push too hard! Now you can see whether the cable is loose or not.

If it is loose: There is a small gold-silver nibble (looks a bit like a screw). Put the end part from the wire on this nibble and click it in. It should stay there. (I used a srewdriver to get under the coverage; Picture: 1: under this place could the connection be loose).

As I put my FP together again, I got perfect network connection!

Hope it helps!

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Hi everyone,

I was waiting to receive my new bottom module for replacement (bad USB connection, not related) to check the antenna with your advices. I’ve checked the two connections and they were properly connected. I just changed the bottom module and now the data connection is very good, simply switches from 3G to 4G depending on the room I’m in, but it’s always been like that. For now eveything is alright and signal doesn’t drop during phone calls! Just need to check if it stays the same when on the street, or getting out of the subway etc.

So thanks for your advices, my guess is the antenna was stuck somehow, and changing the bottom module released it?
Anyway it works.

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And… No. It came back to signal dropping all the time… Still don’t know what to do. Does anyone have another advice? Thanks.

I followed the suggestions above (thanks) to check the antenna and its connections (looked fine), but it still wasn’t working well enough. There are two spring connectors above the centre of the antenna which connect to two tiny plates on the back of the screen. I cleaned those two plates using an alcohol wipe - it was suprising how much material came off it. Now the reception is much better.

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You said you did everything Fairphone recommended. Did you also reboot your Device in safe mode?
(Push Power Button as if you want to shut down your Phone but then longpress on “Shut Down” on the screen. Then it restarts in safe mode. Note that you have to put your widgets back on the screens if you restart in normal mode. But safe mode doesn’t affect your data.)
In Safe Mode all your downloaded apps are inactiv. If the Problem doesn’t occur in safe mode one of your installed apps may cause the problem. Therefore you can only uninstall one by one and check. (Be sure to backup data or sync with google).

That was one of the things I’ve tried because of my network connection problem. But in my case I had absolutely no connection or a very strong connection. But no on/off as you described it. So maybe it’s another issue if you loose connection during phone calls.

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Just found something else:
Have you tried to set your signal from 4G to 3G/2G?

Have a lock at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u-u9tWLjjw
The text under the video explains the issue. Depending on where you live this might be causing your problem.

Hi, thanks for those advices.
Switching to 3G/2G only gets it to lose signal (it gives me a blank sign, with no indication of 3G/4G etc), so I guess it’s not the problem.

In the last few days I’ve been able to see more accurately what the problem is: when I get into a place that doesn’t have good signal (i.e : My bathroom or the subway), and then get in the open air, it doesn’t seek to get back on a 4G network. This morning I tried getting in and out of the bathroom and it still had the same problem, even though I had changed the SIM slot just to try.

Tried safe mode : as you said, problem didn’t occur with safe mode. So I rebooted in normal mode and randomly suppressed recent apps, did the “bathroom test” as described above, and it works now! Fairphone loses signal in the bathroom but quickly finds it when I’m out.

Thanks for the advice. I don’t know if it’s going to keep up that way but for now I’m good… It is vey strange that an app could cause that…

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Glad to hear you found what the problem was!

I think it’s not that unlikey that different apps on one device can interfere with the “normal” software. But that’s another topic.

Hope the signal keeps staying! :sunglasses:

I had exactly this after dropping the FP2 down the stairs (carpeted stairs, so the - new - screen survived).

Thanks to Pina1686’s antenna advice I removed that little plastic plate then disconnected and reconnected the antenna plug. I also cleaned up the contacts with the screen module (pins on top of the little circuit board) and with the antenna (pin on the bottom of the little circuit board).

Now MUCH better. I can use my phone’s data at my desk at work again!

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Hi everybody,

I had exactly the same problem that exposed here: no network connection. Indeed that was the antenna, it wasn’t plugged.

I had to disassemble my FP2 as indicated in this link and explained by different users above:

But I couldn’t fix it only disassembling until Step 6 (as done by DocEmily above). I had to go until Step 11 and take out the metal shield plate in order to be able to clip the antenna. To do that I needed 2 different screwdrivers: PH0 and TX5.

The antenna was not so easy to clip and I had to disassemble/reassemble 3 times (because I thought the antenna was clipped but that was not the case, and the only to know if that’s well clipped is to reassemble the FP2 and reinitiate).

And, thanks to your advice, now it works perfectly!

Cheers.

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