5G Signal Issues on Android Phones - General Questions and Answers

Hi all,
Recently I've had the Pixel 7 Pro, S22 Ultra and S23+ and every phone has issues keeping a 5G signal. I use AT&T and my iPhone 14 Pro Max holds 5G just fine. In the same exact spot with the Android phones I will get full bars and 5G will work for a few minutes and then stop. Signal bar stays full but no data will pass. I have a brand new SIM with each phone I've tried but it seems to be an issue with Android and the cell network from what I can gather. Restarting the phone does not help but switching in and out of airplane mode will do the trick for a few minutes. My cell plan is the highest tier plan that includes 5G. I use Android 13, OneUI 5.1 on the S23+.
Anyone else having a similar issue?

If you want to enjoy 5G service, actual coverage matters. Check your carrier's website to see if they offer a location-based breakdown of which towers they utilize for their 5G signal. You can also look at third-party apps like OpenSignal or Cellmapper.net, which use crowdsourced databases to pinpoint 5G towers near you.

jwoegerbauer said:
If you want to enjoy 5G service, actual coverage matters. Check your carrier's website to see if they offer a location-based breakdown of which towers they utilize for their 5G signal. You can also look at third-party apps like OpenSignal or Cellmapper.net, which use crowdsourced databases to pinpoint 5G towers near you.
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Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for the response. I have narrowed this down to a tower issue. Where I work we have a cell site installed by AT&T just for our building due to coverage issues inside. Anytime I am away from work, 5G and 5G+ are both working great. We have placed a call to AT&T to see if they can come and see what's going on. The only weird thing is that the iPhone 14 will hold 5G and work fine in our building but not the Android phone.
Thanks again.

Related

Surprisingly weak cell signal indoors

I'm a Tmobile customer who recently upgraded from Galaxy S5 to Mate 9. My new Mate 9 struggles to get a cell signal in my house, which prohibits sending/receiving texts and making/receiving calls. It mostly says Emergency Calls Only or No Service at the top of the screen. I did not have these issues with my mid-2014 device, so I'm surprised and disappointed to have them today. Could be a deal breaker in keeping the device.
Are there any settings or changes I can make within the device to improve signal strength?
That is surprising, as I've had much better reception compared to my Note 3. No settings changed, just popped in the SIM (after cutting it down to fit). But I should add that my Note 3 was an AT&T version, which did not support t-mobile's Band 12, so it's POSSIBLE that extra band has contributed to my better reception.
airplanegeek said:
I'm a Tmobile customer who recently upgraded from Galaxy S5 to Mate 9. My new Mate 9 struggles to get a cell signal in my house, which prohibits sending/receiving texts and making/receiving calls. It mostly says Emergency Calls Only or No Service at the top of the screen. I did not have these issues with my mid-2014 device, so I'm surprised and disappointed to have them today. Could be a deal breaker in keeping the device.
Are there any settings or changes I can make within the device to improve signal strength?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No wifi calling on T-Mobile doesnt help either.
---------- Post added at 03:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:11 PM ----------
dscline said:
That is surprising, as I've had much better reception compared to my Note 3. No settings changed, just popped in the SIM (after cutting it down to fit). But I should add that my Note 3 was an AT&T version, which did not support t-mobile's Band 12, so it's POSSIBLE that extra band has contributed to my better reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kinda wonder if this phone actually gets band 12. There seems to be no way to see what band ur phones using and i get better reception by a lot at work and my apartment with my pixel xl than my mate 9. How can it be certified on band 12 with tmobile and not have wifi calling on tmobile?
aknotts415 said:
How can it be certified on band 12 with tmobile and not have wifi calling on tmobile?
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Click to collapse
I don't see why the two would be related. My understanding is WiFi calling is a somewhat proprietary function: WiFi calling on T-mobile is different than WiFi calling on AT&T, etc., so the software to use it is specific to the carrier. Band 12 is just another band. If the phone supports it (and it's supposed to), then it should work.
I live in a somewhat poor t-mobile spot: I typically only got 1 or 2 two at home, and 1 bar, to sometimes no service in the Kroger a block away from me. With the Mate 9, I'm getting 3-4 bars in both places.
dscline said:
I don't see why the two would be related. My understanding is WiFi calling is a somewhat proprietary function: WiFi calling on T-mobile is different than WiFi calling on AT&T, etc., so the software to use it is specific to the carrier. Band 12 is just another band. If the phone supports it (and it's supposed to), then it should work.
I live in a somewhat poor t-mobile spot: I typically only got 1 or 2 two at home, and 1 bar, to sometimes no service in the Kroger a block away from me. With the Mate 9, I'm getting 3-4 bars in both places.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But with band 12 doesnt you're phone have to be certified by T-Mobile to really work on band 12? I thot it did which in turn made me thing, why would it be band 12 certifed and not have T-Mobiles wifi calling certified?
aknotts415 said:
But with band 12 doesnt you're phone have to be certified by T-Mobile to really work on band 12?
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I'm not aware of anything "special" about band 12 vs. any other band.
Yeah the exact opposite over here. Really strong signals indoor not to mention where my Nexus 6p and note 4 signals would be dead zero, I'm still able to get LTE. And yeah it does have band 12
I've tried my phone in Japan on Docomo and AU networks, and in the US on T-Mobile, and I haven't had trouble with reception at all. But obviously, this is totally subjective and is based on your location relative towers.
Total opposite for me, slightly better reception that with my previous phones.
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA Labs
Appreciate the feedback. I'll need to expedite a decision to either return it or hope for a resolution at some future point. Thanks!
yeap, band 12 (indoor) band sucks on my CHN 6/128 turned EU. I had a US Mate 9 and indoor reception sucked as well. My old LG V20 and Note 7 had better indoor signal.
I have 2 bars 4g where i couldn't have signal on other phones.

New Note 20 Ultra N986U1 / No 5G

Picked up the unlocked version and activate with Verizon 5G sim here in Honolulu HI. Verizon coverage map states my area and pretty much the entire island is covered for 5G nationwide.
I have full LTE+ showing on my phone but after tshoot with Verizon for the last few hours and driving around a couple miles..my indicator has not changed at all to 5G.
Am i interpreting the coverage map wrong when it says all of the island is on 5G nationwide, meaning to me, i should see the 5G network on my phone?
Since i unboxed this device yesterday, it only pulled down one update and nothing new is showing as far as software updates.
Powered off the device a few times along with a network reset and still no 5G..
So far I've found the 5G feature to be the most overhyped, most under developed feature I've seen that was this hyped up in a long while. For the most part at the moment, i find it that unless you're standing on a block containing a 5mm 5G cell tower, 5G as of right now is pretty sparse and mostly useless.
Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
liquidraven said:
Picked up the unlocked version and activate with Verizon 5G sim here in Honolulu HI. Verizon coverage map states my area and pretty much the entire island is covered for 5G nationwide.
I have full LTE+ showing on my phone but after tshoot with Verizon for the last few hours and driving around a couple miles..my indicator has not changed at all to 5G.
Am i interpreting the coverage map wrong when it says all of the island is on 5G nationwide, meaning to me, i should see the 5G network on my phone?
Since i unboxed this device yesterday, it only pulled down one update and nothing new is showing as far as software updates.
Powered off the device a few times along with a network reset and still no 5G..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only the Verizon branded phones have gotten the update to enable the sub6 5g. The unlocked phones have not been updated for it.
liquidraven said:
Picked up the unlocked version and activate with Verizon 5G sim here in Honolulu HI. Verizon coverage map states my area and pretty much the entire island is covered for 5G nationwide.
I have full LTE+ showing on my phone but after tshoot with Verizon for the last few hours and driving around a couple miles..my indicator has not changed at all to 5G.
Am i interpreting the coverage map wrong when it says all of the island is on 5G nationwide, meaning to me, i should see the 5G network on my phone?
Since i unboxed this device yesterday, it only pulled down one update and nothing new is showing as far as software updates.
Powered off the device a few times along with a network reset and still no 5G..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you can do is use the *#272*<imei number>#
Choose the att csc and choose the option to only change the network code.
I tried this and got 5g for 1.1 sec. What exactly does this do?
You can also enable bands and DSS for verizon nationwide coverage through the service mode menus. I have a n20 ultra with U1 firmware on verizon csc with 5G working.
mellojosh said:
You can also enable bands and DSS for verizon nationwide coverage through the service mode menus. I have a n20 ultra with U1 firmware on verizon csc with 5G working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where under service mode do you enabled bands and DSS please? Is this while the network code is switched to ATT?
GDHAMTON7 said:
What you can do is use the *#272*<imei number>#
Choose the att csc and choose the option to only change the network code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I did this and was able to get 5G to show. I did see some connectivity issues after doing this with things like apps reaching out to their servers and what not. Oddly, speed test gave me lower speed results than on LTE for some reason..
liquidraven said:
Thanks, I did this and was able to get 5G to show. I did see some connectivity issues after doing this with things like apps reaching out to their servers and what not. Oddly, speed test gave me lower speed results than on LTE for some reason..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's expected unfortunately. Some users see higher and some see lower
liquidraven said:
Where under service mode do you enabled bands and DSS please? Is this while the network code is switched to ATT?
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Click to collapse
I attached screenshots of the menus I changed to enable 5G. The DSS menu enables 5G DSS, the LTE band menu enables all the LTE bands and the NR prune menu enables all the 5G bands. I would restore the VZW csc before making any changes. Changing the csc resets any service mode changes made manually. It will also work under any of the csc's selected, but then other things like wifi calling and visual voice-mail are configured for that carrier and don't work right. Also, carrier aggregation combos for lte and 5g produce slower data speeds if you have sales and network codes mismatched to the SIM thats being used.
How did you get to that menu
GDHAMTON7 said:
How did you get to that menu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@GDHAMTON7 I posted a guide since I got a bunch of requests about this.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...de-service-mode-csc-guide-enable-lte-t4182293
mellojosh said:
@GDHAMTON7 I posted a guide since I got a bunch of requests about this.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...de-service-mode-csc-guide-enable-lte-t4182293
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked like a charm... Gahhhh feels like a clog has been removed from my phone's data connection. #lifesaver
One ui 3 beta build enables 5g for Verizon if anyone wants to take that route. Looks like someone figured out how to enable it through google phone though [emoji106]
Sent from my SM-N986U1 using Tapatalk
Was anyone able to enable n78 5G band ?

Question AT&T 5g and unlocked Z flip 3 5g

Has anyone here ordered an unlocked Z flip 3 from 5g directly from Samsung and currently using it on AT&T in the US? I am trying to confirm that the phone will be able to access AT&T's 5g network. I've seen conflicting info out there. I don't want to buy it if it won't get 5g.
Works fine on my wifes flip 3, and also for the record on my fold 3.
uicnren said:
Works fine on my wifes flip 3, and also for the record on my fold 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info because I prefer the unlocked version over the one with the carrier garbage on it
Hopefully your 5g is better than Verizon's. I get significantly better speeds on 4g. The most I've seen on a 5g speed test (and ive done many from many locations) is 7Mbps and I'm in an excellent coverage area for Verizon... although when it comes to 5g you can't tell where coverage is because the map combines it with 4g.
Verizon also combines (I'm probably saying this wrong) multiple 4g data streams together and calls it 5g and from my experience it's terrible.
I actually asked Verizon if there was a sim card I could get that would just allow for 4g since there is no disable 5g setting on the Verizon version but there is on every other carrier...uhg.
Anyways they said yes, I got 2 new sims and... I still saw 5g and I still have the wonderful battery drain from the phone constantly trying to get a 5g signal. Terrible.
I have this exact same setup and I don't have 5g either, logo doesn't show up or anything. I went to the att store and asked about a sim card and they said that shouldn't matter, I had them look up my plan and apparently I don't have a 5g plan (I'm using a line on my dad's plan). It would be nice, but I've accepted it for now. I've gotten pretty decent battery life from the start and I think it might be because I don't use 5g
I have the Samsung unlocked model and am with At&t. When am out and about at the top I do see it says 5G but in Miami we have no 5G enable yet but it does seem like it would get 5G once that enable. Once in a while i do loose that 5G signal and it drops down to LTE but for like a few seconds only than it jumps back to the 5G signal.

Question [INDIA] Airtel 5G connectivity

Hey guys ,
Just wanted to check if anyone was able to latch on to a 5G tower in india where Airtel recently rolled out the service in select cities.
The Airtel Thanks app shows I am compliant - city wise and software wise, but I am unable to connect to the 5g network after switching network types. People seem to be lost even in the Samsung Members app.
If you were able to connect, please share tips and a possible location where you could connect, may be helpful to others as well.
Cheers !
I am in Mumbai, where 5G is available. I stay on 20th floor, where 5g does not latch. When i move down my building, i get 5g network. So guess it depends on where you are staying and if that location has 5G
pratik_193 said:
I am in Mumbai, where 5G is available. I stay on 20th floor, where 5g does not latch. When i move down my building, i get 5g network. So guess it depends on where you are staying and if that location has 5G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info ! I guess it's just not available in my area yet, then
I could connect to 5G in Varanasi Airport. Speed was anywhere between 600 to 800 Mbps.
By the by I'm on Ui 5 beta

Question Im still getting these issue.

I circled the issue here. It's an exclamation point that on the signal bars. I have full signal but no internet connectivity. Look at what it says under internet (networks available) even though it says I have 5guc. The only thing that immediately clears this is clicking the tool and circle in the upper right corner.
I would get this issue on the pixel 6 pro alot more but it's still happening albeit alot less on the pixel 7 pro.
Anyone else getting this issue?
Never saw that on any phone. Seeing how you've experienced it on two different phones makes me think either you have a 3rd party app causing this OR it has something to do with your provider.
paniro187 said:
I circled the issue here. It's an exclamation point that on the signal bars. I have full signal but no internet connectivity. Look at what it says under internet (networks available) even though it says I have 5guc. The only thing that immediately clears this is clicking the tool and circle in the upper right corner.
I would get this issue on the pixel 6 pro alot more but it's still happening albeit alot less on the pixel 7 pro.
Anyone else getting this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try changing your network from 5g to lte, see if it improves
I am starting to think this is a T-Mobile 5G SA problem. I have a Tello eSIM that uses T-Mobile and it works fine but when I used the T-Mobile Network Pass eSIM to try out T-Mobile postpaid, it was constantly dropping and was actually booting both my eSIMs from the network.
On my OnePlus 9, the Tello pSIM would drop data all the time if it connected to 5G SA but fortunately I could disable that in developer options. There is no such option on the Pixel and my Tello pSIM was doing the same thing when I first got the new phone. Converting my Tello pSIM to eSIM just seems to have disabled 5G SA entirely on it so I wasn't having the problem again until the T-Mobile eSIM.
This was the reason why i gave up on the P6 Pro a year ago!
It is less, but still have some times the issue! Connected to 5G, good signal, but no Data Connection, and after few Minutes i get the ! sign!
few minutes more, and the connection is coming back!
Provider A1 and Magenta in Austria!
Yes I have that on P7P. That and many other issues, calls start burbling after 8-10 minutes. I miss calls, in general the network is very slow.
Waiting for an update before returning it.
I believe this is a T-mobile issue. Where I live I get 5G UC around half the time compared with just 5G. There are a few spots where 5G UC shows connected however no data will pass. Same issue on my iPad Pro. At least I can turn off 5G UC on the iPad Pro. Can't find any setting where you can disable just the 5G UC.
EtherealRemnant said:
I am starting to think this is a T-Mobile 5G SA problem. I have a Tello eSIM that uses T-Mobile and it works fine but when I used the T-Mobile Network Pass eSIM to try out T-Mobile postpaid, it was constantly dropping and was actually booting both my eSIMs from the network.
On my OnePlus 9, the Tello pSIM would drop data all the time if it connected to 5G SA but fortunately I could disable that in developer options. There is no such option on the Pixel and my Tello pSIM was doing the same thing when I first got the new phone. Converting my Tello pSIM to eSIM just seems to have disabled 5G SA entirely on it so I wasn't having the problem again until the T-Mobile eSIM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
schmeggy929 said:
I believe this is a T-mobile issue. Where I live I get 5G UC around half the time compared with just 5G. There are a few spots where 5G UC shows connected however no data will pass. Same issue on my iPad Pro. At least I can turn off 5G UC on the iPad Pro. Can't find any setting where you can disable just the 5G UC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the P6P, I had ridiculous Signal and Battery issues - til I disabled 5G. Where it's strong, T-Mob 5G is great but where it's barely coming in, it's terrible. Even on the P7P, the first thing I did in Network was choose LTE as my preferred
EtherealRemnant said:
I am starting to think this is a T-Mobile 5G SA problem. I have a Tello eSIM that uses T-Mobile and it works fine but when I used the T-Mobile Network Pass eSIM to try out T-Mobile postpaid, it was constantly dropping and was actually booting both my eSIMs from the network.
On my OnePlus 9, the Tello pSIM would drop data all the time if it connected to 5G SA but fortunately I could disable that in developer options. There is no such option on the Pixel and my Tello pSIM was doing the same thing when I first got the new phone. Converting my Tello pSIM to eSIM just seems to have disabled 5G SA entirely on it so I wasn't having the problem again until the T-Mobile eSIM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the first place we believed that the porblem was Hardware in Pixel 6, but I consume that's not Tensor's problem anymore. It might be, but the carriers with the 5G antenna upgrades don't help the situation.
Do you live in supported by Google country, or not?
As i can say, i had this issue the first time with the Note 10 + (Exynos) ... the Pixel 6 Pro was very bad with this issue, as i had to return it!
Now with the Pixel 7 Pro it started again, not that often as the P6P ... but still! And just on 5G!
Between with the S22U Snapdragon (S908E and S9080), also with the OnePlus and Sony etc ... i never had this issue!
so, i think it is a Exynos Modem Issue with few Provider Hardware
MultiCulti said:
This was the reason why i gave up on the P6 Pro a year ago!
It is less, but still have some times the issue! Connected to 5G, good signal, but no Data Connection, and after few Minutes i get the ! sign!
few minutes more, and the connection is coming back!
Provider A1 and Magenta in Austria!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confidently say it's not a hardware issue, I get this one of the networks. I use dual sim one is esim with 5g connection which works perfectly, but the other one with a physical sim gives this as when it loses the network signal
Could it be a APN settings issue? I get this on my carrier if i don't set the proper APN settings.
I had this with EE in the UK on their Esim. Switched to Vodafone and haven't had the issue since
I do think when I used the phone before I gave it to my wife, that I saw the same things. And yes, I'm on T Mobile.
tsoump said:
In the first place we believed that the porblem was Hardware in Pixel 6, but I consume that's not Tensor's problem anymore. It might be, but the carriers with the 5G antenna upgrades don't help the situation.
Do you live in supported by Google country, or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm in the US. It only seems to be a problem on T-Mobile and they're the only ones here that have a 5G standalone network (making things worse, they have it on both their 5G frequencies now so it happens every time that 5G connects). My Tello physical SIM that uses the T-Mobile network was doing the same thing until I converted it to eSIM and now it doesn't connect to the 5G SA network anymore (whether intentional or a bug is yet to be seen) and I've had no data drops.
For the record, I have heard this same complaint levied at iPhones.
EtherealRemnant said:
Yes, I'm in the US. It only seems to be a problem on T-Mobile and they're the only ones here that have a 5G standalone network (making things worse, they have it on both their 5G frequencies now so it happens every time that 5G connects). My Tello physical SIM that uses the T-Mobile network was doing the same thing until I converted it to eSIM and now it doesn't connect to the 5G SA network anymore (whether intentional or a bug is yet to be seen) and I've had no data drops.
For the record, I have heard this same complaint levied at iPhones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no clue.
The problem with two Sims simultaneously is obvious mainly in unsupported carriers (the trick is to switch the one sim to only 2G).
Maybe the antennas are weak in this specific area so the call falls from to 2G and this might occurs the problem (?)
Same issues started on my One Plus 7T Pro. No 5g, LTE works perfect. No version of APN settings can get 5g back. It's definitely a 5g SA issue.
Could be: intentional, tmobile/Tello issue they are unaware of, or just something they are fixing.... for over a month now lol
myxdad said:
Same issues started on my One Plus 7T Pro. No 5g, LTE works perfect. No version of APN settings can get 5g back. It's definitely a 5g SN issue.
Could be: intentional, tmobile/Tello issue they are unaware of, or just something they are fixing.... for over a month now lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your developer options for a 5G network mode one. If you have it, switch it to 5G NSA only. That fixed it on my OnePlus 9. Seems to be hit or miss which OnePlus devices have the option though.
EtherealRemnant said:
Check your developer options for a 5G network mode one. If you have it, switch it to 5G NSA only. That fixed it on my OnePlus 9. Seems to be hit or miss which OnePlus devices have the option though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No my rooted 7T Pro / Android 11 does not have this in developer option to switch between NSA and SA.
And I couldn't find any other way to mess with this setting unfortunately
With *#*#4636#*#* I can mess with a lot of antenna stuff, but still no NSA / SA option.
Everything I've read is that 5g NSA works and SA does not. Even though SA worked for years up until around early November from what I noticed
myxdad said:
No my rooted 7T Pro / Android 11 does not have this in developer option to switch between NSA and SA.
And I couldn't find any other way to mess with this setting unfortunately
With *#*#4636#*#* I can mess with a lot of antenna stuff, but still no NSA / SA option.
Everything I've read is that 5g NSA works and SA does not. Even though SA worked for years up until around early November from what I noticed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if they added that toggle in A12. I never looked for it when I was on 11.

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