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.

[MI5]

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@aldaweb wrote:

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

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A concern we have raised previously but we've not had any explanation officially.....

[Anonymous]

I had forgotten that your comments were the reason that I solved the similar problem with my S4. On my phone I simply went into 'Network Mode' (in Settings/Mobile Data) and changed from 4G/3G/2G to 3G/2G.

I did this over a week ago and have had no 'Not Registered on Network' problems since.

I should add that phone calls to O2 and 2 visits to local store all suggested changing the sim and failing that, sending the phoe to be repaired! Just as well that I saw your message. Thanks very much.

[Anonymous]

Brilliant! Thank you so much

[shaker13]

Hi,

I had a similar problem with S4 mini which had worked perfectly well for 2 months.

Ended up running through set up process (again) on:

https://www.o2.co.uk/4g/setup/

I guess HLR may do some check involving SIM and phone being 4G compatible???

Hope this helps someone!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advise but I gave tried everything you suggested and I still can not get connected, can anyone please help?

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks for the advise but I gave tried everything you suggested and I still can not get connected, can anyone please help?

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See your other thread here http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-and-Pay-Go/No-service/m-p/638619#M65000

[SaraEliza]

Thanks Ever So.  I have had the same issue with my new S4.  This is my first foray into Smartphone territory, and I am not very technical at all.  O2 Guru said I needed to visit a local store, but I was not convinced.  Text messages were magically appearing at night, and receiving seemed to work but sending didn't.  So I thought it was signal strength upstairs was better than down (I live in a bit of a dip).  Anyway I followed your advice and although my options read differently - (Settings > More Networks > Mobile Networks > Network Mode >

4G/3G/2G (auto connect)

3G/2G (auto connect)

3G Only

I thought I would change here from 3G only to the 3G/2G option, and now my phone works.  I really don't know how daft this makes me...  Thanks for posting this therefore and helping out an old bird.  Your a Star.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for this Snudge.
I have been having exactly the same problem - in fact, I could have written the post as your experience was exactly the same as mine - I have just changed to GSM only and had success but after 10 minutes it went back to NOT REGISTERED ON NETWORK.
I have had the Galaxy S5 for 2 weeks from new from a Tesco Phone shop - I have had the phone swopped as I considered it a bad phone but still got the same message - I have also had a new sim but it makes no difference.
I live in an area that can only get 2g so I would have thought your fix would have made complete sense but sadly not.
The net is full of people with the same problem so you would think that someone would have found the full solution by now.
I have tried just about everything to date, airplane mode, remove sim card, change every other setting available but nothing seemed to work.
Think I will have to consider taking the phone back and return to my old iphone !!!!

[Anonymous]

This WORKS!!! sweet

[MI5]

Glad it helped you