Phone calls: other person suddenly can't hear me anymore

[Hanno_Deckert]

Short update to my problems:
To make sure that the proximity sensor is placed directly to my ear I had no more disrupting calls.
But can anyone tell me something about the yellow frame around the display? In that case there is no more reaction touching the screen, it looks like the screen is a little magnified. I have to press the on/off button to return to the normal mode.
Thanks for any explanations.

[Rikhen]

Hi!
I really like the FP-Idea, but it seems I have the same problem: people complain not to hear me in good quality, often disrupteed. That goes together with the FP2 ending calls several times saying that ther would be no mobile network, even there is a lot before and afterwards…
Any hints?
Best regards

[Johannes]

@Rikhen

I have the same problem: people complain not to hear me in good quality, often disrupteed

I think you may have a different problem - this topic describes people on the other end suddenly not being able to hear you at all, despite you being able to hear them perfectly well. General (i.e. from the onset of the call) audio quality issues are discussed here, but seeing as you also have calls that cut out often, probably this is a better match:

FP2 dropping calls

Today was the first time I did several phone calls with the FP2 and in maybe half the cases the call dropped after seconds or a minute. It seems to happen when I’m in the subway or first floor of a large building, but I have a strong feeling that this didn’t happen quite so often under the exact same conditions with my other smartphones. One time I barely walked down the stairs into the station and it was gone. In many of the cases the reception icon showed a decent reception (though I learned t…

Note that these things can be hardware related (couple of examples in the topic linked above) - in which case you’ll need to a file support ticket (or call them) so Fairphone can sort it out for you.

[Philip1]

Solved with new bottom module

[David_J_Seifert]

Hi! Since a view weeks I’m facing the same problem. People can hear me just when I turn the speaker on. How strange is this? What can I do? The microphone works fine. But whenever I switch back to earphone I can’t be heared anymore.

[Johannes]

When you switch to speaker mode, the phone uses a different microphone than it uses during regular calls (it uses the one that is also used for recording audio when making videos). The bottom module, which houses the regular microphone, may either have (partially) lost connection to the rest of the phone or it could be a defect. The former can often be solved by removing the module and putting it back again, in the latter case you’ll need to contact Fairphone support to get them to fix it. There’s more discussion about microphones that don’t work here.

[David_J_Seifert]

Hello! Ok thanks! That helps. I’ll contact the support! David

[Kefa_Lyon]

Greetings who can help me fix a mic problem I am having with the fairphone 2 ?

no one can hear me speak unless its on speaker phone

[Alison]

Same problem. Somewhere in the forum a few days ago I read a suggestion, I think from Fairphone staff, that if one of three uses of mic works, then rather than replacing bits of phone we should clean one of the two microphones. I can’t now find that post; I can’t remember the difference between the two mics; and I can’t remember where they are. (I know I should have bookmarked the page …) Anyone? Thanks!

[freibadschwimmer]

One mic is in the bottom module (main mic), and the other one in the top module (for videos and calls on the speaker).
Probably you refer to this topic:
https://fairphone.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213161166-My-microphone-does-not-work-properly

You may also want to have a look at this:

Diagnosing my Fairphone 2 with Checkup app

[mungo]

I experience unwanted conference calls (the one I called gets put on hold) in one of some fifteen calls. More seldom but occuring is myself going mute while calling.
Also the screen stays black when I am done calling und can’t hang up, I have to reactivte the phone via pwd.

@Johannes

Microphone works in the beginning of a call, and then stops picking up any sound:This topic. In most cases probably related to the proximity sensor.

I recalibrated the sensor and observe.

[Alison]

Thanks! that’s the zendesk item I had lost. The solution, in my case, was simple - I took the battery out then put it back in, and the mic worked again. Dust/dirt perhaps? If not that, magic?

[wytzeschouten]

Same problem: a few minutes into the call, the other person cannot hear me at all.

I will try switching off the screen (using power button) immediately after starting the call. And I will look to see if I have accidentally pressed mute with my cheekbone. And I will try to press Back button twice to see if I accidentally started a conference call with my cheekbone.

But the shared aspect of all these solutions is: this should not happen on a smarthphone. I’ve had five earlier touchscreen devices that never caused this problem.

PS: I installed that patch to improve the proximity sensor a while ago (the patch you could do via Settings > Maintenance). It helped me get rid of a lot of other problems, but I don’t recall having this Mute problem before that patch.

[Stewi73]

When making phone calls, only when I use my ear phones with a separate microphone, then after speaking for a minute or so the other person suddenly cannot hear me anymore, while I can still hear them on my earphones… Is there a solution to that problem?
I am starting to loose patience with my FP2 which I bought some 9 months ago and constantly experience all sorts of problems with. It is simply not a reliable phone. If it wouldn’t be for the “fair” bit, I would have taken it back a long time ago…

[andreaC]

Hi all,

This has been happening to me since I got the FP2 in early January. At first I didn’t consider it too important but it is bothering me more and more.
It appears that during a call, if I change screen (opening another app or even the contact list!), whether by accident or on purpose, my microphone mutes. It is extremely annoying when it happens to be my ear touching the screen by accident and suddenly the other person cannot hear me and I have to quickly switch back to the call screen before they hang up.

Anyone experiencing this same problem? Is there a way to change the settings so this doesn’t happen?

Many thanks!

[oriold]

I have this problem but with my headphones. It apparently has started recently. After maybe 2 minutes people will stop hearing me. I already replaced time ago the bottom module, maybe is a problem with the top one?

[oriold]

Could be my proximity sensor though, testing this.

[erik78]

It seems that recently this problem has reappeared with my FP2. I didn have this problem (anymore) for some months, but the last couple of weeks it seems that many of my calls are ended within the first minute. It is super annoying. Is it possible that a recent update reintroduced this problem? I’ll try to find out what’s going on (proximity sensor, etc.).

[and.rea]

I have the same issue.
When I make a call using my headset, it starts like normal but after a short time (30s to 1 min) the other person cannot hear me anymore (as if my microphone was put on “mute”). I keep hearing the other person normally.
I tried with different headsets, same result. This happens only when I use headset.
Many forum posts point to a possible “sensors” issue which I troubleshooted (along with primary and secondary microphones) with the checkup app. All hardware modules are working.
I asked for support more than 2 weeks ago and as of now only received my ticket number…

The only workaround I found is to start the call without headset plugged in and then plug it in after a few seconds. This way, I am able to talk and be heard for as long as needed.