Data and texting work, calls do not

[analogmike77]

Strange situation: I can text and data works great. I can't make or receive any calls. It won't even ring. I've tried my SIM in 2 phones that have this same problem: Samsung S20 Ultra and LG G8X. The LG was working a couple years ago when I last used it. The Samsung was working for calls on Monday.

I then put my SIM card in a Samsung S20 FE and an Iphone 12 and it worked for calling. So maybe the SIM is ok?

I then tried my daughter's working SIM (from the Iphone) in my S20 Ultra and LG G8X and the phones functioned the same: texting and data are ok, calls don't work.

I've rebooted the phones and removed and reseated the SIM card numerous times. I even did a factory reset on the LG and it still didn't work correctly.

Is there an issue with the Public Mobile/Telus network where specific phones can't connect for making calls?

[dust2dust]

If that line says LTE while on a call (if it could call 🙂 ) then you have something. But that's also just the phone sitting waiting.

Telus has severely controlled which devices can use volte. My phone can do volte but they won't let it.

[analogmike77]

Here's an interesting twist: my wife's old S20 FE is working so it must be using volte, however there's no setting to turn that on or off. If I look at the phone status page it says the voice network is LTE.

The Telus website says my S20 Ultra is compatible with volte. I can't find a setting for volte though. When I look at my phone status it also says that my voice network is volte. I'll have to take a drive and see if I can find some 3g service to test out that theory. Thanks again for the help.

[dust2dust]

Oh. I'm just down the valley from you. 🙂 (I'm working fine on 3G) I think it's the area. The fact that you set your daughters phone to WCDMA and it didn't work tells me that it's a network problem. Come on down valley and see if your phone works.
When you do get in contact, also ask them why your fancy S20's aren't working for volte. See what they say. Good luck with that.

[analogmike77]

Thanks @dust2dust. It must be either the WCDMA service in my area, or my phone stopped working over WCDMA. I checked the outage map and there are no outages near me (near Vernon BC). I'll contact support and get them to check the WCDMA in my area.

[dust2dust · Accepted solution]

Yes then her phone must be using volte. Good testing.

How our phones have been working for many of these years and still does is that you usually set the phone to LTE. Most phones will. Then for calling, the phone will drop down to UMTS (WCDMA/3G). Then when done return to running on LTE. Now with volte the phone just works on LTE.

So contact support and let them know that something seems wrong with the 3G UMTS in your area. Or see if you can find it in

https://www.telus.com/en/bc/outages

[softech]

@analogmike77 

why you connect to WCDMA, other than voice still does not work, data not work, too?

which province and city you are at?

[analogmike77]

The old LG only has LTE, CDMA or GSM/UMTS as options. I can only access the network if I select Automatic or LTE. 

Interesting about voice using WCDMA. I didn't know that. I had assumed the calls were made using the LTE connection. Perhaps my LG phone is too old and it's not working because it doesn't have WCDMA?

Just for fun I tried switching my daughter's iPhone to 3g and it couldn't connect. There mustn't be any 3g service in our area. Her iPhone makes calls when set to LTE or 5g.

By the way, thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

[dust2dust]

And you tried WCDMA on both phones? Is your daughter with Public? Are there any phones in your vicinity from another provider?

It seems to be that all of your WCDMA has died. Data and text work fine on LTE anyway. They would also work on WCDMA. It's WCDMA that does the talk. Unless you had volte enabled on these phones which sounds like not.

One could go all conspiracy on the company but whoa.

[analogmike77]

My bad, I meant WCDMA. My phone won't connect to the network at all with WCDMA selected.

My S20 Ultra is up to date as of a week ago. I have made calls successfully since I did the last update.

I tried manually selecting the network already. Still doesn't work.

I did a full factory reset on my LG phone and that didn't help either.

[HALIMACS]

Re: "Data and texting wouldn't work if they were blacklisted."

That is true @analogmike77 

I offered the blacklist check option as some others (clearly not you) might be utilizing RCS services and wi-fi connections and think they're 'texting' and using 'data'.

[analogmike77]

I also thought it was the phone at first until I found 2 different phones from different manufacturers running different versions of Android with the exact same problem. If it was the phone, I wouldn't expect to see the exact same, very strange behaviour from both. I also wouldn't expect to see data and texting still working when calls are not.

[dust2dust]

More interesting. So there's no 3G or WCDMA or UMTS option in the list? CDMA and GSM are not usable here as you found.  Does the phone have all the updates? Did it recently get an update? Can you manually scan for networks on LTE and select Public? have you done a reset network settings?

[analogmike77]

It seems strange that my phone would work 2 days ago and then just stop, unless Telus did some sort of SW patch on their system that caused it to reject calls from specific phones.

I checked the blacklist and they aren't black listed. Data and texting wouldn't work if they were blacklisted.

I changed the connection to GSM. Wouldn't connect to the network at all. Same with setting it to CDMA. The only other options I have are LTE or Automatic. In both those settings it connects to the network and data and texting will work, but calls do not.

[dust2dust]

The fact that the sim (and service) works in another phone points to the device. Interesting that two of your phones have the same problem but others don't.

[HALIMACS]

@analogmike77 

Indeed, depending on the device, it may or may not work, however virtually all North American models should work.

Try setting the problem devices to 3G only to see what happens.

Also, for the heck of it, check for any blacklisted issues.   Just to exclude that ...

Check the Status of Your Device in Canada | DeviceCheck.ca

Adding:   It's good that you checked the SIM in another device to confirm all services work.  That does confirm the issue you're experiencing is not SIM or account-related.