No signal, bad data connection

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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A possible solution for those without connection at all (not bad, no mobile internet whatsoever): In Settings > More > Mobile Networks > Network Operators, choosing your provider (again) might help. I received this answer from the support, it does not work however for me when both SIM slots are used. I’m using FP Open by the way

I’m not sure whether I understand your problem, but it seems you have two SIMs that both work when only one SIM is inserted. When you insert both, do both not work, or is it just one?

If it’s just one: do both of your providers support 2G connections? One SIM will have a 3G/4G connection, the other should fall back to 2G (which SIM has the 4G connection can be specified in somewhere in Settings). Some providers do not provide 2G fallback, and as a result SIMs from those providers won’t connect to the network when the 3G/4G connection is in use by the other SIM.

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Sorry I was not specific in my post above. My problem is that both SIM cards stopped mobile connectivity simultaneously after working perfectly fine for months. The FP support suggested the workaround above due to “SIM cards losing connection to the operator network”. As I said, this only works with one SIM slot in use. I didn’t play around with 2G/3G because it did work before with both providers on 4G. But good to know that 4G can only be used by one SIM card at a time.

I have suddenly also lost all mobile and internet connectivity with both SIMs. I also see no mobile providers when I try to search and select one manually (while other people around me are using their phones, so there ARE providers available). WiFi is the only connectivity left that works. This is horrible, the phone is now a useless piece of junk. I’m on holiday in another country, for 4 more weeks, and I now have no phone anymore. I also tried removing one SIM and using one; also, I bought a new SIM (prepaid); nothing changes.

Have you tried to fix the antenna (see above)?

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