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Missed Calls, Dropped Calls

I have about had it with Verizon - I'm sitting at home with my S24 Ultra, with both a 4G Network Extender, and strong WiFi, and randomly people call me, and I know nothing about it until I get a voicemail.

Or other times I'll be in the middle of a conversation, and then the call abruptly drops. And often when this happens, and I try to call them back, the call immediately disconnects. I have to call back with my landline.

I am looking at Spectrum Mobile now, although since they use the Verizon network, I'm not sure things will be any better. Anybody here with a better experience with Spectrum Mobile?

I have done all the usual troubleshooting - network reset, full phone reboot, etc. Nothing works, and these problems are simply unacceptable.

Comments

DLCPhoto1

Anybody from Verizon here?

Verizon_Support

We're sorry to learn about your calling issues while at home, DLCPhoto1. We appreciate all the troubleshooting you have completed so far. It sounds like there is interference in your home if you are already using a Network Extender. We'd like to find out more about this. When did these issues start? How is service when you leave your home? Does your phone show it is connected to the network extender when experiencing these issues?

-Danielle

DLCPhoto1

Thank you for the reply.

Sometimes my phone connects to the Network Extender, and sometimes it doesn't. Even when I'm sitting 3 feet below from where it is located. I spent a huge amount of time troubleshooting this with Tech Support, but never got a satisfactory answer. It just seems random as to when it does or doesn't connect. I even had them send me a new Network Extender, but it made no difference.

These issues have been going on for years, and I just put up with it. I'm not sure I can do that much longer.

I haven't noticed problems when away from home, but I use the phone way more at home than when away.

And the call can drop, or a call can be missed, whether I'm connected to the Network Extender or not. Very frustrating...

Verizon_Support

Please reach out to us if you still need assistance.

-Bryan

DLCPhoto1

Not sure what you're asking for. I thought that's what I was doing here. 🫤

As I mentioned, I have reached out to tech support multiple times, and no solutions were provided.

Gnil82

I have the same issue with my S24 Ultra, as do many, many others on all networks from all providers, all over the world. This is a Samsung issue that Samsung has not, to my knowledge, bothered to address or even acknowledge.

I have a SureCall Fusion4Home booster. Every other phone works on it just fine. I have to use my wife's hotspot if I want to do anything on my S24 Ultra. Most of the Samsung forum posts I've read are people having issues even without a booster, just dropping signal on thier provider's towers.

SynthpopAddict

I'm wondering if your phone isn't connected to the extender at all and that's why you have the calling problems. Can you use just WiFi and WiFi calling while at home? Or if you have service problems everywhere you go, it's time to consider porting elsewhere.

As for Spectrum, they are a 3rd party MVNO who piggybacks off Verizon and I suspect your service would be even worse than what you're getting now, because 3rd party customers are deprioritized the most on the network - the network owner doesn't have to care about 3rd party customers much at all since they are officially customers of another company. I personally ported out of Spectrum after getting tired of my phone going into SOS at least once a month, poor call quality, and very slow data speeds.

DLCPhoto1

Thanks for the reply.

On the Network Extender - it shows a 'house' icon when it is connected, so I know when it is, or isn't, connected. Problems occur in either scenario.

On WiFi calling - I have it enabled, and prioritized in the settings, but problems still occur. And theoretically, Verizon recommends turns off WiFi calling when using a Network Extender, but I still have problems with that configuration.

Our home has a poor cell signal, even though it shows as good on any maps (for any cell provider actually). I usually have 1 or 2 bars, 3 occasionally. Here's my theory on what's going on:

The phone can connect to the regular cell signal, the local femtocell signal, or WiFi, for calls, with no way for me to completely select one for 100% usage.

If I'm connected to the regular cell signal when it happens to be stronger, and then when it inevitably weakens, it will switch to either Network Extender or WiFi. This could trigger a drop.

Conversely if it is connected to Network Extender or WiFi to begin with, and then the regular cell signal strengthens, it will switch to that (as it would if I left the house), this could also trigger a drop.

It's so unpredictable, though. I had a perfect 45 minute call yesterday, and yet 2 days before I had 2 completely missed calls, when the caller said it went straight to voicemail without even ringing, when I was physically in the same exact location.

I share the same concern about Spectrum Mobile, so I'm not optimistic for the exact reason you state. I have been in touch with T-Mobile, though, and can have a 2-week no-cost trial. I would use a 2nd eSIM on my current phone, and turn on call forwarding to the new number. That doesn't fully eliminate Verizon however, but fully switching my main number to it, and then back to Verizon if it doesn't work out, seems problematic.

I also haven't figured out yet how I would forward texts to the new number, so there is that.

DLCPhoto1

Thanks for the reply, and yeah, this possibility has been on my mind as well. I've done some searching, and have come across similar reports.

So frustrating. This is obviously not a cheap phone, and to have its basic functionality - being a phone! - unstable is pretty ridiculous.

DLCPhoto1

Verizon personnel have not been too helpful here, have they?

Focusing on one particular problem:

What would be responsible for when somebody calls me, and they are sent immediately to VoiceMail, and my phone never rings, doesn't show a missed call, etc.?

This would seem to be a problem with the Verizon network, since I'm having trouble seeing how my phone, or signal problems in my home, could cause that.

And often when a call drops, when I try to call them back, the call is immediately disconnected, even after repeated attempts. I have to then use my landline to make a call!

SynthpopAddict

Check your PMs as I answered this question there. There are different factors behind dead zones, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly what could be causing the service issues. But one thing which I didn't mention elsewhere which can cause that immediate drop problem is the service plan you have. If you are not on one of the current top 2 postpaid plans - for Verizon, that would be Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Ultimate - you will have some level of reduced priority on the towers. This is true for any carrier, if you read the fine print on their service plans. Anyway, depending on where you are in the network pecking order, if the network is habitually busy with a lot of traffic in your area, you could have problems when the towers get overloaded. Then, those who are deprioritized will have their devices routed to towers further away and in extreme situations, may be getting passed around from one tower to another every few seconds. If your phone is being bounced around that much between several towers, it's going to cause problems with call quality.

I live in a city with 4 major college/university systems all around me, and any time it's test season, my prepaid service gets a little iffy because of all the students loading up the towers and me being prepaid (had the same problem as you with a call being dropped and then going to voicemail immediately when the caller tried calling back one morning a couple days ago, but now that exam week has passed, things are fine again).

DLCPhoto1

Interesting - I am aware of the prioritized status for different types of plans, but I had assumed this only impacted Data, and not the basic cellular signal. Is that not the case?

I have no problem if it's just data, as I'm on WiFi the majority of the time, but if they're diminishing my basic cell phone reception for calls, that is simply unacceptable.

And if I have WiFi calling enabled on my phone, wouldn't that eliminate the problem?

DLCPhoto1

I put my phone on Airplane mode, keeping WiFi (and Bluetooth) active. I had a 5-bar WiFi connection to my 5GHz router band. WiFi calling was enabled.

Somebody tried to call me, and it went straight to VoiceMail!! I use GoogleVoice for this, and it sent me an email about a missed call!!

@vzw_customer_support
- this has got to be a failure of the Verizon network, unless you can somehow explain otherwise? The network seemed to have just rejected this call. This is just unacceptable.

Verizon_Support

We certainly get that would be frustrating, sending you a PM now so we can discuss a little further at your convenience of course.

-Anthony

SynthpopAddict

If the phone is in airplane mode, it is completely disconnected from cellular service and will not use cellular to transmit data either. I did read a thread from someone saying when their WiFi was on the 5 GHz spectrum, it wouldn't work for WiFi calling for some reason, and their ISP had to switch it to 2.4 GHz before the WiFi calling would work.

As for why your phone sometimes fails to connect to the Verizon network extender when cellular service is otherwise poor, I haven't ever had to use an extender, so can't answer that question, but @jav6
has posted elsewhere of having used several Verizon extenders, so may be able to provide some input?

jav6

@SynthpopAddict
wrote:
If the phone is in airplane mode, it is completely disconnected from cellular service and will not use cellular to transmit data either. I did read a thread from someone saying when their WiFi was on the 5 GHz spectrum, it wouldn't work for WiFi calling for some reason, and their ISP had to switch it to 2.4 GHz before the WiFi calling would work.
As for why your phone sometimes fails to connect to the Verizon network extender when cellular service is otherwise poor, I haven't ever had to use an extender, so can't answer that question, but @jav6
has posted elsewhere of having used several Verizon extenders, so may be able to provide some input?

I have only used the Motorola phones with my extenders or WiFi without issues. I don't have any experience with the Samsung's, especially the S24 Ultra which appear to have issues from the other posts. @DLCPhoto1
I don't see where you've identified what kind of internet service you have, as that could be coming into play.

Verizon_Support

Thanks for raising these concerns, we know it is important to have reliable service. Do you only have these issues when you are at home or everywhere? Also does all calls go to voicemail or just certain numbers?

-Jazzy

DLCPhoto1

Thanks for the reply. My ISP is Spectrum, with a pretty dependable 600 down/20 up connection. I regularly stream 4k/HDR video without issues or buffering (AppleTV 4k and Roku Ultra).

The two most relevant data points are:

Neither my wife's Galaxy A53 or my Galaxy S24 Ultra, will consistently connect to the Network Extender. It's really hit or miss, and I've been unable to identify what might cause this inconsistency. I have rebooted the extender, can access its UI through it's IP address, etc.

The other key piece of information is that with the phone in Airplane mode (eliminating any cell signal contribution to this problem, from either Verizon's direct signal, or the Network Extender's Femotocell signal), and with 5 bar connection to my Router, I still had someone call and tell me it went directly to voicemail. My phone didn't ring, even thought I was sitting there right next to my router.

Any ideas or suggestions welcome!

DLCPhoto1

I work from home, so 95% of my phone usage is here, which is where the problems show up.

I would say 80-90% of the time, I receive my calls properly, but then there are those times where the same numbers that go through without problem, will go directly to VoiceMail, or are dropped in the middle of calls.

Verizon_Support

We want you to have all the options avaliable when you're traveling. We're going to send you a Private Message to help out.

-James

Verizon_Support

Thank you for the addtional information on your set-up. We will send you a private message so we can gather addtional information from your accout and want to keep your personal information secure.

-Toni

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