No sound 50+% of the time in calls, until reboot

Hi all,

I have this issue since june 2020 as least

I open a case at the official support + send back my phone => nothing work

No usefull help from Fairphone compagny

Anyone as a usefull help on the subject ?

Thanks

I try to reboot
=> Call OK

Watch an add => Call KO

You made a lot @Bas_tien for this trouble

Why the support didnt make his part ?

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It made me really sad to read the conversation of the last week. And I say this as a person who does not hold back my criticism of Fairphone. We should really care our community feeling and try to be kind to each other, especially with everything which is going on right now around us.

Without questions, this technical issue and the handling of the official Fairphone support has lead to a lot of frustration. Once again, I am asking @formerFP.Com.Manager or any other FP employee to give a statement which can clear this. I am not concerned about me, I could replace my FP3 and have now a FP3 which works. But I am concerned about the negative impact on our community.

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Since the update to Android 10 I had the same issue with my Fairphone 3.
I had no sound 50% of the time in calls until a reboot.
I tried some solutions from this forum, but nothing helped.
Also the Fairphone Support didnā€™t help me.

After a while I recognized that the issue had disappeared. I think this was about September '20.
Then the update to FP3 3.A.0066 came up, which I installed right away, to surely get rid of the problem.
But after the update the issue came back.

And again the issue disappeared for no reason in about the middle of December '20.
Now I will not do any updates, until the problem is surely fixed by the new update.

My settings:
2 Sim Cards used
VoLTE: Enhanced 4G LTE Mode is disabled
VoWIFI: Wi-fi calling is disabled
Iā€™m using Nova Launcher instead of the standard launcher

My question:
Did the latest update 3.A.0077 help anyone whith this issue?

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How do you build a community with a bad product and worse support?

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I donā€™t have to reboot but my sound issues are intermittent too and the same after 0077 :frowning:

No reboots, but sound quality is bad. After 30 seconds or so sound is fading and people start complaining they canā€™t hear me.
Iā€™m having the latest update, 3.A.0077. So you have to decide which risk you will take: not the latest security patch or updating and the risk of bad audio quality during calls

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Referring to the about It was much the same before the update, so my opinion is the update made no obvious change to the use of the phone in this respect. Was poor using 0066 and the same using 0077

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Hi everyone,

Thanks very much for reaching out to our support team about this issue and for sharing all your troubleshooting findings in this thread. We apologise that our investigation has taken some time. We are currently working on an update to our blog post which will contain more information, which weā€™ll share early next week.

Best,
Rae

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Hi everyone,

As promised in my previous message, Iā€™m happy to report that our blog has now been updated with some positive news. Thanks once again to you all for your understanding while we investigated. Of course, please also let our customer support team know if you still encounter issues after our next update.

Rae

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Edit:
Sorry, I do the reboot by myself. So I can do calls again for some hours.
A reboot fixes the issue for a short time.

The issue came back for no reason since the weekend.
I deleted all apps and stuff, Iā€™ve installed the last 2 weeks, but nothing changed.
It seems like my fairphone had a feeling, that Iā€™ve explained my ā€œsoluitionā€ here last week.

I got the FP3 returned and they sent me a new unit.
I have been testing that unit for exactly 1 week now.
What I observed :

  1. I cannot trigger the sound problem by watching an advertisement in an app, like I explained above. @fmarot could be the same problem you wife has, I can imagine that candy crush has ads
    I have tried the ad + call scenario maybe 30 times since last week, and it never was a problem with calls, while with the previous unit I had, it was always a problem with call after an ad.
  2. Once only, I had issues with sound, on the 2nd day I had the new unit. The FP3 was plugged to the hi-fi with internet radio. A colleague called on whatsapp, none of us could hear anything. Another whatsapp call and same problem (no sound on any side). We kept on calling each other on whatsapp and realized that he could hear me, but I could hear him only whith loud speakers or headphones (not the small speaker you put next to your head while using the phone in the classic fashion). After that call was finished, I kept on trying with the help of my partnerā€™s phone. Every 2nd second would work only with loud speakers or headphone plugged, every call with normal ear speaker would not have sound. We tried 3 times in a raw (3 times 2 calls), and it was consistently failing/working (x3). Then we tried 3 calls in a raw with headphone plugged and it worked fine, then 3 calls in a raw without headphone and it worked a well, and all this without a reboot.

I have tried to reproduce the problem described in 2. several times during the last 7 days but I have not been able to. I wasnā€™t sure how to conclude either, because thereā€™s still the a problem, but it looked different. Also the problem being triggered by plugging a cable in the headphone socket reminded me a lot how the problem started for me September 2019. Never the less, the state of the unit is clearly better, because (so far, that is 1 week) I had only 1 problem with call (described in 2.). So I would think that swapping the phone actually fixed the problem. We are now 2 to have had the issue fixed by swapping the phone. Still, it doesnā€™t mean the new unit will be problem free.

To conclude I would say :
_ Do contact the support and do ask for your phone to be swapped. It helped in my case and at least another case too. It took me 5 months and about 30+ emails exchanged to get there. The first few months I was ok to help them test, but when I gave up on that and asked for a working phone, I had to insist for weeks for it to be offered by the support. Just donā€™t give up, write clearly, and consistently ask to get a working phone. Buying an FP3 is not a lottery, it is covered by obligation on both sides (consumer should pay, seller should give a working unit)
_ Anything about SIM card and other issues they have posted on their blog is NOT related to the issue described in that thread
_ Factory reset does not help
_ The issue seams to be triggered by either watching an ad in an app (ie game) or using headphones. Could that be related to a faulty switch between different audio in/out sources ? I donā€™t know

Does anyone went the same way (unit swap) ?
Does anyone also got consistently the problem triggered by watching an ad then call doesnā€™t work until reboot ?

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Glad your problem seems to be solved and quite understandable, that you got some reservations to consider it solved. I would as well.

Though:

In some cases it might be related and therefore still something worth checking out. See this citation from a posting in another thread of yours:

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Yes a) I think itā€™s related to an audio switch failure and b) my daughter is having her phone replaced after her disgust that the initial response was to go to the forum for help ??. Sheā€™s a lawyer so her second email was probably a little harsh :slight_smile:

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Iā€™d love to hear an update, when something noteworthy happens in regards to your daughter

Yes after the second email, where she stated that it was totally unacceptable to be farmed off to the forum she asked for a refund. She has been offered a replacement, just waiting for it.

The initial response was it was past the 14 days but they could replace it as the notification was within 30 days. Technically FP were wrong on the 14 Days that only applies to consumer choice, with a faulty device there only has to be notification within 30 days. However my daughter decide to accept the replacement rather than push for a refund, due no doubt to the facts that a) it was her idea to get a Fairphone as sheā€™s a Barrister dealing with human rights and fair trade and b) I paid for it ~ anticipating problems :slight_smile:

"

Your 30 day right to return

You have the legal right to a refund if you return your faulty good within 30 days of receiving it, regardless of what the storeā€™s return policy says.

Your consumer returns rights after 30 days

If you donā€™t reject the goods within the first 30 days, and find a fault within the first six months of possessing your faulty goods, youā€™ll need to give the retailer a chance to make a repair or replacement. If thatā€™s unsuccessful, you can then ask for a refund.

After six months

After the first six months, the burden of proof switches to you to prove the fault youā€™ve found was present at the time you purchased the goods in store or first took ownership of it if you bought it online.

The law does not detail how consumers can prove a fault was present at purchase, which can make it problematic when youā€™re asked to do so."

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I just got an email from FP support and they asked again to change the sim-cards, asked about providers, suggested to update ā€¦ and so on. They didnā€™t even bother to answer my question about a possible refund. I am getting very tired of it and am considering to keep my FP for homeoffice use. Unbelievable.

@ExFairphoneUser Painful reading

a) How long have you had the phone?
b) when did the problem start?
c) when did you first contact them officially?

Iā€™m coming to the idea that if I canā€™t be happy with a less than optimal Fairphone Iā€™ll just give up mobile phones.

A crappy phone I can ā€˜liveā€™ with but the lack of care I cannot, and I donā€™t mean the lack of Fairphone caring about me I mean me caring about those I exploit.

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a) bought it in july 2020 and even got the camera updates
b) some time im september and it got progressively worse
c) october/november

I had to buy a new phone (a used samsung which works like a charm) as I need one for work and the FP could simply not be used.