As I was reading about some network switching issues on some other unrelated Android article, I played around with the network options, and my (somewhat crude) fix has now been to limit the network capability of my phone to 2G most of the time - then those signal problems don’t seem to occur. Although I haven’t tested that thoroughly yet, I didn’t hear any reports about bad call quality from my call partners anymore. It’s not ideal - when I want better internet connection I have to go into the settings and switch; but typically when I’m using the internet more heavily, I have WiFi access anyway. I can’t really speculate about the reasons why it works better to only use 2G, but maybe it can help someone here with similar problems, or maybe someone else can shed a light on the reasons ;).
The SIM card is 3 and a half years old, and worked just fine before in a different mobile phone (now about 2 years past); as the problem only happens in certain locations, and I also don’t notice it directly (and people on the phone don’t always tell you that the connection is kind of bad on their end; the incoming connection to me never had problems), so I can’t really tell when the problem started, I suppose it could easily have been existant since I had the Fairphone.
One idea would be that your SIM (is it old?) can’t handle 4g + calls anymore.
You mean that it is kind of worn out and thus cannot handle the “stress” of 4G? I didn’t know this could happen, but I will visit my provider anyway in the next days or weeks, I’ll ask them if they think that likely, and if so, get a new SIM card. Thanks for your input in any case!
Most providers exchange SIMs that are 2+ years for free - without you having to prove that they cause any issues. So it’s definitely worth a try.
Wouldn’t be the first time an old SIM caused issues on an FP.
Another option would be it has nothing to do with your connection, but with your microphone (wouldn’t really make sense that it only happens in certain locations, but with a loose connection it could happen sporadically).
Go to Settings → Maintenance to test your microphone. If you don’t hear yourself well during the test try to disassemble your phone and clean the connectors between the bottom module and the rest of the phone.
Most providers exchange SIMs that are 2+ years for free - without you having to prove that they cause any issues. So it’s definitely worth a try.
I’ll try that.
Another option would be it has nothing to do with your connection, but with your microphone (wouldn’t really make sense that it only happens in certain locations, but with a loose connection it could happen sporadically).
To me the symptoms look 100% like a connection issue. People always cannot hear me when I enter a specific house (I can hear them fine though, the call does not drop). When I leave that house, people hear me again. The first time this occurred, I went in and out of the house a couple of times, and the result was always that people could hear me while I was outside, but not while I was inside. Also in my apartment, whenever a call partner alerted me to the issue (i.e. not hearing me properly), I was always in one specific room. As soon as I went into another room, the issue went away.
Exactly the same problem here… haven’t got a clue what to do about it.
Other people don’t have this problem with their phone in the same places.
And the SIM is only about 3 months old. New provider though, but same problem with previous provider…
For me, the problem got better with a slim case (replacing my broken transparent case I loved so much). Now, I can make calls in my own house without needing to step outside (I have to stay close to the window, however )
Been very busy weeks, only got to check it now - unfortunately I realized I don’t have a T5 screwdriver so I couldn’t check that small module where the antenna leads to. From the “outside” it doesn’t look like the cable is loose, but I will get the proper tool and check again.
In the meantime I switched to a different provider, and I still see similar issues - although in different locations. While I had that occurring in my living room before, there I have no problems anymore, but I do in my office now. So it’s definitely a general signal issue and not a provider issue; as for why only the outgoing signal is affected (I can always hear my partners very clearly, only they can’t hear me), still eludes me…
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