Galaxy Nexus cannot send/receive voice calls or texts, can browse internet with 4G data.

[PopNetInfo]

Question:

Is my CDMA radio dead? Can I replace it? Should I just replace my phone?

Issue:

On 9/20/13 around 10 PM my Galaxy Nexus suddenly stopped accepting/sending voice calls and text messages. The status bar displays a no signal icon and when trying to place any call it says “Mobile network not available”. It will not place utility calls to Verizon and won’t even dial 911. It however still retained a 4G data connection as I could download apps browse the web and watch YouTube videos. I even tried Google Hangouts and a Skype video call both functioned fine. I confirmed that Wi-Fi was disabled and this occurs at multiple locations including ones without a Wi-Fi network. There is a valid 4G IP address listed under the Status menu.

Stock Android 4.2.2

Network: Searching for Service

Signal Strength: -109 dBm 31 asu

Mobile network: LTE:13

Service state: Out of service

Roaming: Not roaming

Mobile network state: Connected

Screen shots:

http://i.imgur.com/ILyETMp.png

http://i.imgur.com/wuITIEr.png

http://i.imgur.com/ttRSBQ0.png

Troubleshooting steps:

I tried powering it off and back on. Then I pulled the battery out and next pulled the SIM can and battery out then powered on the device without the SIM. Without the SIM it still showed the same no mobile network available and data was unavailable. After replacing the SIM data returned but voice calls did not. I even tried a complete factory reset of the device and while 4G data is working great I cannot send/receive phone calls or text messages.

Verizon Support:

The following morning I called Verizon and spoke with Level 1 and Level 2 Tech Support. They had me run all the troubleshooting steps possible and came to the conclusion that it was a cellular engineering problem. They stated they would contact me back within 24 hours with a resolution. 24 hours came and went and still nothing so I called Verizon Tech Support back and spoke with another Level 1 and 2 Tech and repeated some of the same trouble shooting steps. They apologized for the inconvenience and were confident that they would have a solution for me by the end of the day. I provided them an email address and alternate contact number again and 24 hours later I still have not heard back from them.

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi PopNetInfo!

I'm sorry to learn of the issues with your device/service, and that you have had to contact us more than once for assistance. Since posting, have you heard back from a supervisor? I'd love to help if this issue has not yet been resolved. Please follow me back in the forums, and then send me a DM with your name and mobile number. I can then review your account and check things out. Thanks!

ChristinaB_VZW
VZW Support
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[PopNetInfo]

Christina,

Yes I actually heard back from Verizon Support this morning. They said

everything was working on their end and that there was nothing else that

they could do for me at the moment. They suggested I take it into the store

and have them check the phone out. I stopped by a Verizon Wireless store

(not an authorized retailer) and they replaced the SIM card but I still

can't make phone calls while still having a solid data connection. I talked

to two different people there and they both agreed that I should get a new

phone.

Do you have any other suggestions for me at this time? Or should I start

looking into a 3rd party for repair/replacement.

Thank you,

Jeremy

>>Personal information removed to comply with the <<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[DaveinDiego]

Any fix? I have been having the exact same issue and all the verizon rep could do was change the sim card as well.

[PopNetInfo]

No unfortunately not. All I can surmise is that the CDMA radio died but the

LTE radio is still going strong. Some local electronics chop shops "think"

they can fix it for $50-70 but I'd rather not risk it and break the LTE

radio as well.

I've basically resigned to using GrooveIP to do VOIP and wait/hope for the

Nexus 5 on Verizon. If you come up with a solution please let me know.

[PopNetInfo]

I just arrived in NYC and turned my phone on and sure enough I can

send/receive phone cals and text messages.

We will see what happens when I get back to Florida

[vzw_customer_support]

Hi DaveinDiego. Changing out the SIM card is definitely a good step to take in getting your services back. Thanks for trying! Do you seem to only have the issue with service when in a particular zipcode? Did the new SIM have any improvement in your service? Has your phone been damaged or exposed to moisture? Is the phone less than a year old or do you have an extended warranty or insurance? Please share a few more details about your personal experience and we'll see what we need to do to get your phone working again.

Thank you
JenniferH_VZW

Please follow us on Twitter @vzwsupport

[Dwest94]

I'm having the same exact issue as well, I spoke with tier 1 and 2 tech support with no resolve. They were telling me that it's my phone and started selling me on other products... There has got to be a fix

[PopNetInfo]

Sorry I don't have any solutions for you. As far as I can tell the CDMA

radios on these devices are "expiring". I've tried everything I can think

of, within reason. I called Verizon and even got a ticket opened with a

level 3 Engineer, no luck. I took it to a store and they wouldn't even try

to repair it they suggested I purchase a new phone.

I even took it apart myself using this

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/SamsungGalaxyNexus+Teardown/7182/1 break

down and inspected the parts. Nothing seemed to be damaged or corroded. I

have not tried replacing any parts or doing a "reflow" on it yet as I don't

want to loose the LTE radio as well.

If you make any progress please let us know!

[PopNetInfo]

I just arrived in NYC and turned my phone on and sure enough I can

send/receive phone cals and text messages.

We will see what happens when I get back to Florida.

[vzw_customer_support]

Dwest94, this is an odd coincidence! Let's investigate this matter. Have you downloaded a few 3rd party applications to your device? Some 3rd party applications can affect the performance of your device. I recommend that you uninstall a few applications, briefly remove the sim card, and power your device off/on to soft reset it. Keep us posted.

LasinaH_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[PopNetInfo]

>>comments deleted<<   and the same exact issue is happening which leads me to believe it is most likely a hardware issue.

>>Post edited to comply with Verizon Wireless Terms of Service    Discussion concerning rooting, jailbreaking, or modding is not permitted in this forum<<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

[Zeldacat]

I'm having this same problem. First, it happened when I visited West Virginia, but when I came back to Virginia my phone worked fine. Every time I went to West Virginia, this happened, but I didn't deal with it because I was only out there for a day. Now the phone/text won't work in my area in Virginia. Did your phone end up staying "fixed" when you went to Florida?

[PopNetInfo]

Sadly no. As soon as I got back to Florida it had the same issues.

I called Verizon while in New York and they said they would do a follow up

call the next day when I would be back in Florida. They did not follow up

and I ended up calling them the following weekend. I explained what

happened and they said that they would look into it. They said they had

engineers check the area for signal issues and I had to explain that no

other Verizon phone around me was having this issue. They then had a Level

3 tech support follow up with me and we did all the same troubleshooting

from the 1st and 2nd tech support calls, same result. They stated it must

be the phone and suggested I call Samsung as they are the manufacturer and

are responsible for the hardware of the device. The Samsung support line

they provided was 888-987-4357, but I have not called them.

When troubleshooting the last time the tech on the phone mentioned that she

was receiving a ping signal from my phone that was indicating that it was

trying to connect through the Sprint cellular network. Whether that was for

the LTE or CDMA/GSM bands I'm not sure. I've not had any issues with 4G

Data and the speeds seem to be the higher end Verizon ones that I am used

to and to the best of my knowledge our version of the phone does not have a

GSM radio. When she had me boot into recovery and clear my Dalvik Cache

then boot into safemode the phone stopped sending any signal of any kind

(including data) and that was when she decided it was time for a new phone.

I left it in safe mode and a short while after the call ended my 4G data

connection returned but no call/text still.

I'm not a cellular networking engineer but this is what I know:

This issue started randomly. I did not damage the phone it did not over

heat. I was at dinner and it was in my pocket.

I have never had issues with 4G LTE network only the CDMA network.

My phone says "No Mobile Network Available" indicating that it does not see

a CDMA network, or is not allowed to connect to it.

When in "Roaming" mode I was able to make phone calls and send text.

I believe Sprint has some sort of CDMA network, which would make sense with

what the 3rd support call stated, and my phone can connect to their network.

If Verizon edits the following statement please contact me directly for the

info.

After all this and a month+ of not having a phone I tried reflashing the

radios with ADB (Android Debug Bridge) and the LTE radio took about 3

seconds then when it moved down to the CMDA radio it took 94 seconds to

flash but did say successful.

Here is the log:

sending 'radio' (10496 KB)...

OKAY

writing 'radio'...

OKAY

finished. total time: 3.692s

sending 'radio-cdma' (3724 KB)...

OKAY

writing 'radio-cdma'...

OKAY

finished. total time: 232.964s

As you can see it's taking 30 times longer to write 1/3 of the data, which

just doesn't add up. As I said before I am not a cellular engineer so take

what I say with a grain of salt.

Conclusion, there are likely 2 scenarios happening.

1. The CDMA radio has issues to the point Verizon's network does/can/will

not recognize my device but other cellular providers will.

2. My device has been black listed (probably for still having 😮 unlimited

data) or the ESN/MEID is reported as stolen. Both of which I'm not sure how

to find out.

I hope this helps everyone else out here. Let me know if you have more info.

[PopNetInfo]

EDIT:

Apparently the log had code that Verizon's forums recognize as links to posts. Here is a slightly edited version.

sending 'radio' (10496 KB)...

OKAY - 1.054s

writing 'radio'...

OKAY - 2.638s

finished. total time: 3.692s

sending 'radio-cdma' (3724 KB)...

OKAY - 0.383s

writing 'radio-cdma'...

OKAY - 94.456s

finished. total time: 232.964s

[1arryb]

I lost my GN and got a replacement from Asurion ($99 deductable, Ouch!). I've had the exact same problem with the replacement phone from day 1:

Intermittently, the phone will lose it's connection to the Verizon network. This affects both 3g and 4g, voice and data. WiFi is unaffected. I've even had the voice cut out in the middle of a call, causing a spontaneous reboot. The outage can *sometimes* but not always, be cleared by either turning airplane mode on/off or rebooting the phone. The outage eventually clears itself after minutes/hours, but always comes back.

I've been online a bunch with Asurion tech support and we've done 3 factory resets. The last time, I told the phone *not* to restore my apps and data from backup. Problem still happens.

Asurion is supposed to deliver replacement phone x2 today. I'll update this post when I get it.

Cheers

[MattAPaul]

I'm having the same issue with my Nexus here in Florida.  Spoke with technical support via live chat and we came to the conclusion to get a new SIM card, which didn't work. 😕  About to get back on with technical support again.  I feel it's most likely the radio.  Only 2 months until my contract ends!

[Ann154]

MattAPaul wrote:

I'm having the same issue with my Nexus here in Florida.  Spoke with technical support via live chat and we came to the conclusion to get a new SD card, which didn't work. 😕  About to get back on with technical support again.  I feel it's most likely the radio.  Only 2 months until my contract ends!

I hope you meant a new SIM card, because there isn't a SD card slot in the Galaxy Nexus phone.

[MattAPaul]

Ha, I did, thanks!

[vzw_customer_support]

@MattAPaul,

I definitely don't want to see you go! Let's get your phone back up and running! Being able to call and text is definitely a must!

Is this happening only in a certain area? What's the zip code where you are experiencing these challenges? Does this happen only when indoors, or outdoors as well? Have you contacted our technical support since you posted here? Please keep me posted if you need further assistance.

JohnB_VZW

Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[tmfESQ]

I have been diligently following this thread since it was originally posted.

https://community.Verizonwireless.com/message/1016588#806311

I have been experiencing the EXACT same issues over the EXACT same time frames and have tried all the EXACT same generic "remedies" Verizon has proposed; none of which have worked.

This is not an issue with the SIM cards, the cell phone/cell phone antenna/cell phone radio/etc. It has nothing to do with the phone's ROM/patches/or installed software. The phone does not need to be factory reset, replaced, or repaired. We paying Verizon customers most definitely do not need to PAY to be "UPGRADED" into the newly unveiled "EDGE" program; which is the most insulting and egregious recommendation I personally have been given by Verizon representatives when it comes to this issue.

This is, without a doubt, judging from my ongoing experience and the ongoing experience of many others on this and various online discussion threads, an issue with Verizon's network when it comes to allowing the galaxy nexus to work on their network.

I am an attorney in Philadelphia who travels the country for my job. I expect and need my cell phone voice and text messaging services to work. I, and the others on this discussion thread, have paid Verizon for these phones, for cell service, and technical support. Verizon is clearly in breach of the phone service contract.

We are NOT being helped and we are stuck with non-working devices that we are STILL paying for each month.

Verizon's customer technical support tracking database must be rife with reports of this very issue.

Like the others on this discussion thread, my attempts to get this resolved by visiting various Verizon stores and via the Verizon phone help line have failed.

Has ANYONE at Verizon investigated "PopNetInfo's" suggestions in the aforementioned thread that possibly:

  1. The CDMA radio has issues to the point Verizon's network does/can/will not recognize my device but other cellular providers will.

  2. My device has been black listed or the ESN/MEID is reported as stolen.

Has ANYONE at Verizon done ANYTHING regarding this issue aside from offering affected clients basic, tier 1/2 tech support troubleshooting suggestions?

ATTENTION VERIZON SUPPORT REPS READING THIS THREAD: I, and all customers on this discussion thread, need some of Verizon's senior-level management and technicians to get involved in this issue on behalf of all Verizon customers experiencing this issue immediately. At this point, we fully expect these senior-level Verizon personnel to start speaking and working with us directly and individually on this issue within one week's time or less. We expect the issue to be seriously investigated and remedied as quickly as possible. We also expect proper and full compensation for the months of service we have been paying for even though service is very clearly not being delivered. I personally have been using verzion, and ONLY Verizon, as my cell provider for nearly 20 YEARS! I, for one, will be canceling my service in one month and switching to another provider if I do not feel Verizon wishes to work with us immediately on this long-standing issue. I suggest all others on this thread do the same.