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S4 Useless: "Not registered on network"

happypeach
3: Seeker
3: Seeker

I know there's another thread about this but it seems to have derailed somewhat.

 

Phone is basically useless for the past week or more. Doesn't receive calls, can barely ever make calls and receives/sends texts late. Data works. The network seems to connect for a few minutes at a time maybe once or twice a day, impossible to actually tell. Otherwise, when I call I am met with "Not registered on network."

 

There is usually a symbol covering the bars to indicate that it is not connected to anything, or the bars are empty or even full sometimes  - but I'm aware the bars are cosmetic.

 

There does appear to be an issue on a nearby mast, but I have also been on holiday somewhere an hour and a half away this week and it didn't work there either.

 

edit to add: I don't think it had updated or anything around that time to make me suspicious of new settings.

 

Have tried the following:

Rebooting

Swapping between the 4 modes e.g. GSM only etc.

Wiping the sim card

Choosing a network myself (none of the others let me on, of course)

Checking whether the IMEI number under the battery is the same as in the phone (it is)

Checking whether the phone knows my phone number still (it doesn't)

 

What is my best course of action?

Do I send it back to Vodafone or Samsung?

Will it cost me? Isn't the warranty 2 years?

Will I get a partial refund for the period of time in which it has not worked?

Or will Vodafone let me upgrade early if it is broken? 13 months into 24 month contract (ugh)

 

Infuriating. Please help!

5 REPLIES 5

drey_p
16: Advanced member
16: Advanced member

Hi there

 

It could be an issue with the SIM, it could be an issue with the phone or it could be an issue in the local area.  Could you try your SIM card in another phone and see what happens?

 

To answer your questions:

 

Your best course of action is to work out where the problem lies

You can send your phone to either Vodafone or Samsung.  I personally prefer to use Samsung.

It may cost you, depending on what the fault is (if it is a fault with the phone) as the warranty doesn't cover stuff like physical damage or water damage.

Nope, you won't get a refund of your line rental if your phone isn't working.

Vodafone will let you upgrade early, but you will have to buy out the time remaining in your contract in order to do so.

PWIAC

Thanks for the reply.

 

My boyfriend's new phone has a micro sim which I've only just realised so I will try my sim in his phone when he gets back from work, then try his sim in my phone.

 

If it's the phone, I'll post it back to Samsung then.

 

Will post what happens!

 

P.S. if you buy out the rest of your contract, is it the same as paying for the entire rest of the months or cheaper because you are just paying for the rest of the handset and won't be making extra calls etc?

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

If you buy out your contract, the cost will be the remaining monthly rental, less VAT and with a 2% discount.  191 can give you an exact quote if you want one.   You're probably better off fixing the issue with the phone, though.  It might also be wohrt having a look at the Network Status Checker to see if there are any faults in your area.  However, if you boyfriend's is also on Vodafone and gets a signal in the same places, that would rather rule that out.

Thanks for the reply. Couldn't ring 191 for obvious reasons but that doesn't matter as my phone seems to be working normally now. I had checked local masts as I said and there was a problem, but I wasn't sure whether it was that as I had been on holiday 1.5 hrs away and it hadn't worked there either. I can only assume there was no coverage up there and I happened to come back to a mast fault at home, as it started working at the same time as the one nearby was fixed. Phew!

its suppising how many issues are not the phone

but were made to think its us

Over subscription of a mast is a main bug and a pain and can cause the mast to spaz out as well

But asking yo to go to another area is part of diagnosing the issue and thankfully its is a network issue