Galaxy S23 Mobile data issue

[Rolfd]

Hi all, I've just upgraded from an iPhone on a sim only plan to a new plan with a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Every time I leave home and move from WiFi the phone refuses to automatically connect to mobile data. I can make calls no problem but the symbol for 4g or 5g doesn't appear and I get no connection to the internet. If I toggle aeroplane mode on then off it will kick 5g or 4g in and it works for a short time then disconnects again. I've tried resetting my network settings on the handset but that didn't help.

Does anyone have any ideas what the issue may be?

[MI5]

@Rolfd 

Sorry we couldn't but unfortunately we have lost our account advisors for a while.

O2 Support advisor update - O2 Community

[jyloox]

That's bad news especially since O2 Customer Service seem unable to actually resolve issues!  Looks like I'll have to move to Lebara to have a working data connection!

[Rolfd]

That's a real disappointment as the account advisors were really good and very helpful. Hopefully the new people or system will be just as good. It'll be hard to match the old ones! 

[Ofelas]

I have exactly the same issue.

So it sounds like a firmware fault with the S23s? 😯

[jyloox]

Hi

Potentially, although that doesn't really explain why a Lebara (Vodafone network) SIM works just fine? I still believe it could be some network setting on the O2 side that isn't playing nicely with the S23 Ultra. If the Vodafone network is compatible with the S23 Ultra then shouldn't O2 be able to fix something on their side (especially since they are selling the phone to their customers)? I had a call back from someone from their technical side today responding to my call about 13 days ago. He said they were experiencing a number of issues following their merger with Virgin but he is supposed to be calling back tomorrow.  He suggested I tried turning off automatic network selection including 5G and restricting it to 4G or below. I said I'd already tried that too and have again today - no difference. Let's see whether anything else works when he calls back.

[madasaf1sh]

Sounds like a load of tosh... @jyloox 

As all that has happened is that the dodgy Virgin MVNO (trust me it a weird setup) is having all there numbers ported over to o2.   Virgin never ran any network infrastructure, it was always someone else whitelabled to Virgin Mobile.. 

Just because something works on Vodafone, who have a different network configuration to o2, so I would look at other Telefonica networks across Europe to see if the issue is the same.

It does sounds like either Samsung have messed up a software update or there is something amiss, as there are lots of S23 Ultras out there on the o2 network.. 

Out of curiosity has anyone spoken to Samsung Support and raised a case?? The Samsung Community or Sam Mobile is a good place to start as well

[Enlli]

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@Ofelas wrote:

I have exactly the same issue.

So it sounds like a firmware fault with the S23s? 😯

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S23+ running on O2 eSIM. I'm not experiencing any problems. Haven't seen much on the Samsung Forums.

There was a firmware update to day

[Ofelas]

Interesting.

Do you think an eSIM would solve the issue? I'm willing to try it before changing networks.

[jyloox]

@Ofelas   Feel free to give it a try although I did that myself and it was just the same as with a real SIM for me (ie no different re the data disconnecting).  Today I also tried swapping the O2 SIM to the SIM2 location in the phone just to see if that made a difference but the O2 SIM had the same issues in its new home (and equally the Lebara SIM continued to work just fine in the SIM1 location).  Trying everything I can think of!

@Enlli- thanks.  My software updates are as of 1 July - last one a few days ago but just a security update (not like the big June update that was supposed to fix camera bugs etc).  No new updates showing for me currently but I'll keep checking. 

@madasaf1shI have trawled the internet for other posts - most are generic posts about going doing network reset, clearing cache, factory reset etc etc all of which I've tried.  It seems like there were also issues on initial handset release to do with WIFI and mobile data not interacting well but these seem to have been sorted with the big June firmware update and I've never had that issue.  Samsung is next stop on my journey after O2 but suspect will get push back re the phone working fine with Lebara.  Going to borrow my daughters O2 SIM as well and try that in my phone!

@

[Rolfd]

Just to throw a spanner in the works... Once I called 202 and arranged the return of my S23 Ultra I put the physical sim back into my iPhone 14 pro max and asked the advisor on the phone to reactivate iData for me. I have the same problem as with the Samsung. I've sim swapped to an eSim and the problem is still there. Today I was app 30 miles from home and the data connection was off. Strangely my Virgin physical sim in the phone has been flawless. Given that it's the same network they're using, I'm stumped!

Edited to add my location which is in Northern Ireland.