Samsung Galaxy S4 Active - 'Not registered on network' message

[Anonymous]

My new Samsung Galaxy S4 Active arrived today (bought new on eBay from a Top Rated Seller who has been quite helpful).

I took my O2 SIM out of my Sony Xperia and put it in the new phone.  Having gone through the standard Samsung set-up process I found I could not make outgoing calls.  I kept getting a message on the screen saying 'Not registered on network'...

Before you ask:

• Yes, the SIM was in the right way and was properly seated, clean, etc.
• Yes, I have tried the SIM in loads of other phones - they all work absolutely fine
• Yes, I tried doing a soft re-boot
• Yes, I live in an area with fantastic signal strength - about 200 metres from the tower.  The signal strength was even displayed as a full set of bars!

I tried setting up the network manually by going to Settings/More Networks/Mobile networks/Network Operators and both:

• Manually setting it to the O2 network
• Setting it to automatically select the preferred network

I found that when I manually set it to the O2 network the phone would briefly display a message saying that the phone was registered and that if I was quick I could, at this point, call the phone.  But very quickly the 'signal' was lost and the phone was off the network again.

I looked on the Internet and there are literally thousands of people who have had this message, many of whom had spent weeks trying to get the problem resolved but I couldn't see anyone who was showing a specific fix.

I used O2's chat facility to get technical support but the operator said it must be a locked phone (it isn't).  I asked how it could be locked if the phone could, on occasion, get a call.  We agreed that the best thing to do was for me to go in to a local O2 store and see what they said.

I then drove into the local O2 store and while I was on my way (it is three miles away) the phone started to work properly.  When I got into the store they couldn't see what the problem was.  However, they did try to sell me a 4G upgrade to my contract!  🙂

When I went home the phone went out of service again.  Clearly this has something to do with the masts.  The person in the O2 shop had told me that there was a limited 4G service in the town so I wondered if it was perhaps related to masts that had been upgraded (?) and that my 4G phone might somehow be incompatible with 'older' ones.  I therefore selected the 'Mobile networks' menu mentioned above and changed the network mode from 'WCDMA/GSM (auto connect) to 'GSM only'.

As if by magic, the phone started working again!!!

(Just to test the theory I tried the WCDMA only option and the phone immediately went out of service.)

So, dear reader, my guess is that if you are experiencing the same problem as me, try setting the phone to GSM only...at least it will allow you to take a phone call!

At the moment I guess I'm getting a very slow data rate so I will contact O2 in the morning and ask them what's going on - my guess is that they need to upgrade their towers.

[perksie]

Have you checked for coverage or faults in your area using your full postcode:

http://www.o2.co.uk/coveragechecker

http://status.o2.co.uk/

[Anonymous]

Hi Perksie,

Very many thanks for this suggestion - I don't know why the O2 person didn't suggest it.

I have just tried the Coverage Checker and the map shows that I should be able to get 4G indoors as well as out!  BUT interestingly, next to the mast that I have always assumed that I connect to, the 4G coverage is poor.  I wonder if I am, by default, connecting to that and therefore have a poorer service as a result.  I can see that I'm going to have to get into the car and see where the 4G masts are.

It would be interesting to know whether, if I paid the extra £5 per month for the 4G contract, if the phone would suddenly start working properly.

[Anonymous]

Seems this has cropped up on the forum before with the s3

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Android-Devices-Samsung-HTC-Sony/Samsung-s3-Not-registered-on-network/t...

Seems on most of the android forums the same issue has been happening too !

[perksie · Accepted solution]

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@Anonymous wrote:

It would be interesting to know whether, if I paid the extra £5 per month for the 4G contract, if the phone would suddenly start working properly.

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I'm not sure if it applies to bolt ons, but there is a 90 guarantee on 4G contracts.

You can always cancel it if it's no better.

More here:

http://www.o2.co.uk/4g

[Anonymous]

I was told when I called cs that it does apply to bolt ons and as its £5 a month extra if your not happy they will credit you with up to £15 back within the 90 days

[Anonymous]

Sounds reasonable and risk free.

[Anonymous]

I now have the exact same problem with my Samsung S3: Will not work at home yet can drive 10 miles away and all is fine.

Guru advised to set to GSM and the problem was corrected.

However I have 2 phones : HTC & Samsung and the HTC works perfectly on GSM/WCDMA auto at home.

The Samsung has worked for 6 months on GSM/WCDMA perfectly well so why has the problem just started now?

Does this point to a problem with the phone?

[MI5]

More likely a local mast issue.....

[aldaweb]

This rather begs the question as to why the 2G only option is being removed from some phones.