Question 61.2.A.0.418, XQ-BC52 signal problems

[MorkoCZ]

Hi, I am new to Sony family and bought used III which mightve been a Mistake.
I never see the signal having all bars full. It also reports values around 100dbm.
I have not been making calls really but I can see the reception is worse than with my old Xiaomi 9, same for 4g. Sometimes it drops and only restart fixes it.
Running dualsim, different carriers. Did network config restarts etc.
Lets assume it is sw problem. Could it be bad non-eu stock rom? How do I check?
I might immediatelly go with custom rom, maybe on android 12 just to see if it works better. Any suggestions? I just dont think factory reset or flashing stock is gonna fix it easily and I am open to experiments as long as the system and mainly signal reception is stable because next stop is trashbin really. The phone is overall great, I just did not expect phones having such problems nowadays.

 

[unicastbg]

I've seen the same, especially if I go underground for a few minutes - the phone can't reconnect unless I restart it or switch on and off the airplane mode.
But apart from that I have a pretty stable connection, no matter what the bars show.
My uneducated guess is power savings affect the signal strenght.
Never had problems during calls, no matter if driving or stationary

 

[Ainz_Ooal_Gown]

Hi, I am new to Sony family and bought used III which mightve been a Mistake.
I never see the signal having all bars full. It also reports values around 100dbm.
I have not been making calls really but I can see the reception is worse than with my old Xiaomi 9, same for 4g. Sometimes it drops and only restart fixes it.
Running dualsim, different carriers. Did network config restarts etc.
Lets assume it is sw problem. Could it be bad non-eu stock rom? How do I check?
I might immediatelly go with custom rom, maybe on android 12 just to see if it works better. Any suggestions? I just dont think factory reset or flashing stock is gonna fix it easily and I am open to experiments as long as the system and mainly signal reception is stable because next stop is trashbin really. The phone is overall great, I just did not expect phones having such problems nowadays.

As A current Metro by T-mobile sales rep, and self proclaimed cell phone guru, some carriers require a phone to be registered on your account for it to fully work, even if the phone on paper has all the supported bands of said carrier. so this could be the problem, and if it's a software problem you can simply reinstall the correct firmware for your region and device and see if that fixes the issue, you could also try a different region but same device model number...

 

[DrDrag0n]

Hi, I am new to Sony family and bought used III which mightve been a Mistake.
I never see the signal having all bars full. It also reports values around 100dbm.
I have not been making calls really but I can see the reception is worse than with my old Xiaomi 9, same for 4g. Sometimes it drops and only restart fixes it.
Running dualsim, different carriers. Did network config restarts etc.
Lets assume it is sw problem. Could it be bad non-eu stock rom? How do I check?
I might immediatelly go with custom rom, maybe on android 12 just to see if it works better. Any suggestions? I just dont think factory reset or flashing stock is gonna fix it easily and I am open to experiments as long as the system and mainly signal reception is stable because next stop is trashbin really. The phone is overall great, I just did not expect phones having such problems nowadays.

I have the same problem as well

 

[MorkoCZ]

I've seen the same, especially if I go underground for a few minutes - the phone can't reconnect unless I restart it or switch on and off the airplane mode.
But apart from that I have a pretty stable connection, no matter what the bars show.
My uneducated guess is power savings affect the signal strenght.
Never had problems during calls, no matter if driving or stationary

I have not really tested it much in such environment like underground. The signal mostly stays ok, not full at all but the connection works tho. I had only like 2-3 restarts/week due to connection reporting only EDGE available (still I couldnt browse anything) and both sim signals showed a problem (exlamation mark), I think it could have been caused by worse reception conditions and it eventually stopped working at all.

As A current Metro by T-mobile sales rep, and self proclaimed cell phone guru, some carriers require a phone to be registered on your account for it to fully work, even if the phone on paper has all the supported bands of said carrier. so this could be the problem, and if it's a software problem you can simply reinstall the correct firmware for your region and device and see if that fixes the issue, you could also try a different region but same device model number...

I dont see registration being a requirement here in EU. These are prepaid simcards, no binding to a device, no contract and such.
I dont know if its software problem. After little bit of Googling I came to a conclusion that Sony does indeed have problem with signal reception no matter what is the cause. To me it seems it could be SW related. Question is if flashing stock rom is the way to go or maybe using a custom rom as daily driver?

I have the same problem as well

What os/rom do you have? Have you had any success on making the reception better, more stable? Did custom rom help with that anyhow?

 

[Ainz_Ooal_Gown]

I don't see registration being a requirement here in EU. These are prepaid simcards, no binding to a device, no contract and such.
I don't know if its software problem. After little bit of Googling I came to a conclusion that Sony does indeed have problem with signal reception no matter what is the cause. To me it seems it could be SW related. Question is if flashing stock rom is the way to go or maybe using a custom rom as daily driver?

In the states Metro by T-Mobile is a prepaid company that uses T-Mobile's network, but they specifically require your current device to be on your account to make sure they can give you the correct info on why your phone isn't working correctly. And some times to send the correct configuration file to your device. But in your specific case i would say go the firmware route and see if that fixes it before calling the carrier to see if there's a config file or something similar they need to send.

 

[MorkoCZ]

In the states Metro by T-Mobile is a prepaid company that uses T-Mobile's network, but they specifically require your current device to be on your account to make sure they can give you the correct info on why your phone isn't working correctly. And some times to send the correct configuration file to your device. But in your specific case i would say go the firmware route and see if that fixes it before calling the carrier to see if there's a config file or something similar they need to send.

Thanks for the explanation. I chose the FW route, testing AlphaDroid as of now. So far so good. Reception already looks better so I will stick to this rom for now and see how it performs.

 

[Sakuu]

Thanks for the explanation. I chose the FW route, testing AlphaDroid as of now. So far so good. Reception already looks better so I will stick to this rom for now and see how it performs.

Just a tip, you might wanna force 4G even on custom ROMs, I am running same config as you double sim and diff carriers but i get better result by forcing LTE Only on my main data SIM.

 

[MorkoCZ]

Just a tip, you might wanna force 4G even on custom ROMs, I am running same config as you double sim and diff carriers but i get better result by forcing LTE Only on my main data SIM.

Got it, thanks for the tip.

 

[DrDrag0n]

Got it, thanks for the tip.

I have a quick update for you regarding my devices connectivity problems

I reflashed the latest global firmware, this overrides the modem 5g configs that you find on all of the 5g enabling guides.

immediately my reception AND my phone switching between 3G, 4g 4g+ etc was better. Im not saying im magically getting full bars, but its improved substantially on top of switching between networks when travelling etc is instantly now. Instead of me having to enable flight mode to reset my network every time.

i will try flash a custom rom and see if the reception stays fine

only had problems after trying to enable 5g and follow the guides.

edit: spelling

 

[MorkoCZ]

I have a quick update for you regarding my devices connectivity problems

I reflashed the latest global firmware, this overrides the modem 5g configs that you find on all of the 5g enabling guides.

immediately my reception AND my phone switching between 3G, 4g 4g+ etc was better. Im not saying im magically getting full bars, but its improved substantially on top of switching between networks when travelling etc is instantly now. Instead of me having to enable flight mode to reset my network every time.

i will try flash a custom rom and see if the reception stays fine

only had problems after trying to enable 5g and follow the guides.

edit: spelling

Cool, thanks for the info. What is the version of that global fw?
I had only one network disconnect on AlphaDroid but it managed to fix itself within minutes. Still the display seems bit irresponsive to touches at times, baterry drain is not the best and also call quality does not seem to be the best. So I am considering switching to global or maybe different custom. Ofc it could be just my device.

 

[Sakuu]

Cool, thanks for the info. What is the version of that global fw?
I had only one network disconnect on AlphaDroid but it managed to fix itself within minutes. Still the display seems bit irresponsive to touches at times, baterry drain is not the best and also call quality does not seem to be the best. So I am considering switching to global or maybe different custom. Ofc it could be just my device.

You should start using 120Hz if it feels slow (go into QS settings and get the refresh rate toggle from there), also enable High polling rate from Settings > Display for better responsiveness, also if you're rooted/using Shizuku you should try https://github.com/kyujin-cho/pixel-volte-patch/releases it may unlock some SIM options that may improve your call quality.

 

[DrDrag0n]

Cool, thanks for the info. What is the version of that global fw?
I had only one network disconnect on AlphaDroid but it managed to fix itself within minutes. Still the display seems bit irresponsive to touches at times, baterry drain is not the best and also call quality does not seem to be the best. So I am considering switching to global or maybe different custom. Ofc it could be just my device.

6.1.2.A.0.447 was what I upgraded too

Honestly, I don’t have a single practical use case for my phone where i need 5g enabled, so it’s really not a deal breaker for me to not have that enabled. 4g+ is still pretty quick especially for my use case. If you want volte & vowifi I recommend magisk + zygisk so you can use banking apps. Works well for me and call quality is fantastic

edit: I think I should note i did a full clean flash, flashing all and wiping all data on the phone. It’s been a few days and signal noticeably better.
edit 2: spelling (damn autocorrect)