Forum Discussion
Phone is intermittently switching to "Emergency Calls Only"
I had a Samsung Galaxy S20+. It had worked properly until a month or two ago, when I noticed the phone would intermittently leave the T-Mobile network and only allow Emergency Calls. I was unable to receive or make calls and texts during those periods, which could last for 20-30 minutes at a time. Since I was due for an upgrade, I assumed that switching to a new phone would resolve the issue. I got a Galaxy Z Flip5.
I migrated my data over from the old phone using Smart Switch, and noticed that the problem was occurring on my new phone. So I backed up everything on Samsung Cloud, performed a factory reset on the new phone, and restored the data (minus the settings, since I thought there might be a rogue setting causing this). This did not resolve the issue. I did another factory reset and deleted the e-sim, in the event that something in the SIM card was causing the issue. I replaced it with a physical SIM. No change.
After the last factory reset, I restored everything from Samsung Cloud and then reset the mobile network settings. No change. I verified that there were no system updates available. I disabled 2G on the phone, as the T-Mobile reps suggested there could be a conflict between 5G and 2G. No change.
In the access point names, I've verified that the APN is correct (fast.t-mobile.com - I'm in the US). In the Network Operators section, it is set to Select Automatically. I turned that off and attempted to register on T-Mobile, which works. But after a while the phone goes back to only allowing emergency calls.
This happens everywhere I go, so it doesn't appear to be signal issue. My wife is not experiencing this issue with her phone, so it appears to be restricted to my phone/account in some way. I'm at a loss as to how to proceed.
I’ve noted a few posts about 5G causing issues, so I’ll disable that for now and see it the issue persists on 4G.
After a day of just using 4G I have not had any service interruptions. I would have had multiple interruptions by this point. 5G seems to be the cause, but I'm not sure why since my wife's phone (on the same account, in the same location, using 5G) is not affected. I'll just leave 5G off for the time being. Hopefully this helps someone else if they run into the same problem.
Update: This did not resolve the issue.
Hey there! Intermittent issues like that can be the worst. Never really knowing what to expect is one of my worst nightmares. It looks like you have already done a lot of troubleshooting to try to find out what is causing it to randomly drop internet.
From what you already talked about, it makes sense that it is something on your line or phone. On the account side, there are only two features that would block out service for short periods of time like that. Family Allowances and FamilyMode are features that we offer that give time of day blocking. Double check your account and make sure you don't have either one of those on there.
If it is not one of the Family features, then you are looking at something on your phone. I give you a huge kudos for already doing a couple factory resets and network settings changes to try and figure this out. A couple other things to look at:
- Third party battery savers or task managers - they can close down vital processes without consideration if they feel that too much power is being used. Double check the power saver options in settings. It is not as likely to close down vital stuff, but just to be sure the rules there are not too strict.
- Updates - both software and apps being out of date can do a whole lot of chaos. From tiny things like slower response to touch all the way up to loss of signal and power cycling the phone.
- Modo seguro - How to use safe mode | Configuración | Galaxy Z Flip5 | Asistencia de T-Mobile This will let you use your phone as close to factory as possible to further rule out any apps causing the problems.
Hola HeavenM,
¡Gracias por comunicarte!
I checked the Family features - My line is set to Adult mode, so I think we're good there. Let me know if I'm missing something here, since I didn't see quite what you mentioned.
I'm not using any third party battery savers or task managers. My power saving and adaptive power saving options are set to Off. I've turned off the Background usage limits to make sure nothing is asleep.
For OS updates, I'm up to date. I went through the Galaxy Store and updated four apps. I also went through the Play store and updated four different apps.
I rebooted into Safe Mode after updating the apps and changing the power settings, and my phone is still sitting at Emergency Calls Only. Let me know what else I can check and I’ll be glad to give it a try.Does this happen when you are one location, or have you gone 30 miles from there and seen the same thing?
Does this happen only when connected to Wi-Fi or only on cellular or both?
This happens in multiple locations - I live in Colorado and noticed this happening when I visited Las Vegas.
This happens in both cellular and Wi-Fi.Though it appears to happen much less on cellular.
Actually I think I'm going to retract what I said - this appears to be a Wi-Fi issue. After leaving my connection on cellular for a couple of days, I have not noticed any drops.
Wow! Thanks for testing it on cellular for a few days. You can check your Wi-Fi calling settings to see if it is set to cellular preferred. If it is on Wi-Fi preferred or Wi-Fi only, it can cause some drastic issues if the phone thinks for whatever reason that the Wi-Fi is not strong enough for calls or general service. You can also turn Wi-Fi calling off altogether and see if you have the same issues while connected to the Wi-Fi.
