drops network connection during calls

gurila said:

Hey guys

Got me sim-modded photon q on ebay.

Thing is, it keeps disconnecting voice calls and showing me it lost the network (the reception strength bar icon goes black on the inside) and then not finding it again until I restart the device. It drops out only during calls, don't seem to have that problem when using internet/data

I'm using CM11 msm8960 on congstar germany (aka t-mobile)

Things I've tried:
Resecuring the sim
Toggle NFC, wifi, bt

Got any ideas?

material for thought.... might be related to low battery... *seems* not to happen during battery at over 80

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Click to collapse

In the earlier revision of SIM mod done by CornholioGSM, the SIM ground was taken locally from the phone shielding and not wired directly from the ground pin of the original embedded SIM IC.
Some SIM cards work fine with this, but some are not stable when it's wired this way.

In my case, I had the same issue - occasional loss of SIM connection, usually during calls, needed to reboot to reinitialize the SIM.

You have too options:
1. Fix the SIM mod by adding the missing ground wire between the SIM slot and the embedded SIM IC spot.
2. Ask your network provider for a SIM replacement. In my case, I persisted bugging Vodaphone CZ until the third SIM I've got from them finally worked without issues, despite the ground being connected locally at the SIM slot. (I've got it fixed this way for me before we realized that the issue is caused by not using the SIM specific ground point. So I'm still on the earlier SIM mod variant - I haven't found the time for the SIM mod rework yet and I'm not pressed to do it now, when using the SIM that works fine.)

@gurila

half / temporary soluton you make set a WCDMA only i have that same issue if you dont have time to fix the simmod issue,

pickup from dial pad * # * # info # * # * (*#*#4636#*#*) , enter to phone information , scroll down and set WCDMA only
(for me this setting help to allways connection signal back when was lost)

I aslo have old simmoded photon without correclty grounded wire.

can this fix be done easily?
if so could someone please help out with some pictures?


Gesendet von meinem PHOTON Q mit Tapatalk

comstyle said:

can this fix be done easily?
if so could someone please help out with some pictures?


Gesendet von meinem PHOTON Q mit Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

is you asking about hard fix look on this below picture missing conneciton is mark on green





"missing" this may not be the correct term because ground is connected.,.. but is not taken from original embedded SIM IC what is mark on this photos ( but from other place on the phone) and that is a reason of signal issue
(sorry for my eng.)

Hi, guys!

My photon is affected by same issue. Sim mode have done together with colleague of mine.
Ground is connected properly.

My observation is: this issue occurs only with my main sim card from simqadrat - product of sipgate.de, MVNO based on eplus network. This happens mainly in areas with poor network coverage. Such area in my case - workplace. At home i had never such behavior.
BTW, i contacted cell provider already, and got sim card replacement. same issue. BUT: after i've put O2 sim card into the phone, issue disappeared.

Furthermore: i have also jolla handset. Jolla had also strange behavior with sim card from simqadrat. Handset los network, and had immediate reset. My Galaxy Note N7000 work perfectly with than sim card, and have no issues.
@gurila: you have congstar, it's MVNO too, based on T-Mobile network.
I'm not GSM expert, but i assume that MVNO is root cause of our both cases. Just try to use any sim-card from e.g O2 or T-Mobile directly.

I'm really disappointed. Photon q was big hope to get long awaited qwerty slider.

Regards!

gurila said:

@kabaldan and @niko99 thanks for the help.
@comstyle is the guy i bought the xt897 from, and he opened it for me yesterday and we took a look inside... the grounding was already there. so it seems not to be the problem... he did put in new wires and clearned them up,... unfortunatly it has since it has gone from bad to worse

so FYI, the grounding seems not to be the problem with this bug.

I have ordered a new sim from the provider, let's see if that helps.
I DOES seem that the problem occurs when the battery is lower (no problems above 80%, somewhat at 60%, constant uder 40%)


nico, i will try the WCDMA trick... thanks... update once I have it...

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Click to collapse

stasila said:

Hi, guys!

My photon is affected by same issue. Sim mode have done together with colleague of mine.
Ground is connected properly.

My observation is: this issue occurs only with my main sim card from simqadrat - product of sipgate.de, MVNO based on eplus network. This happens mainly in areas with poor network coverage. Such area in my case - workplace. At home i had never such behavior.
BTW, i contacted cell provider already, and got sim card replacement. same issue. BUT: after i've put O2 sim card into the phone, issue disappeared.

Furthermore: i have also jolla handset. Jolla had also strange behavior with sim card from simqadrat. Handset los network, and had immediate reset. My Galaxy Note N7000 work perfectly with than sim card, and have no issues.

@gurila: you have congstar, it's MVNO too, based on T-Mobile network.
I'm not GSM expert, but i assume that MVNO is root cause of our both cases. Just try to use any sim-card from e.g O2 or T-Mobile directly.

I'm really disappointed. Photon q was big hope to get long awaited qwerty slider.

Regards!

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

No, it's not MVNO, it's the SIM card.

I had the same conditions - poor Vodafone network coverage at my workplace.

T-Mobile SIM - zero issues, anywhere.
Then I switched from T-Mobile to Vodafone and troubles started.
At workplace, every 2nd or 3rd call has been interrupted by the SIM error.
Then I've got a replacement SIM from Vodafone and things got even worse, now I couldn't finish even a single call at my workplace.
Then I've got another replacement SIM from Vodafone and I have zero issues since then.

As you can see, no MVNO has been involved in my case. But I needed to get 3 SIM cards from Vodafone till it was right.

EDIT: see also http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=54047152

gurila said:

failing that i'll have to sell it on ebay as broken

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Click to collapse

@CornholioGSM would probably be able to fix it for you... if he did the mod, perhaps for shipping only. Of course if he did not do the mod, then I'm sure he would ask for some fee... Send him a PM.