I woke up this morning and found that my phone was no longer able to receive or make calls. The text messaging and internet were fine. After browsing the net for an extended period of time I found that I was not alone. It seems many people were in my situation, we all had 4G/LTE phones that were either Unlocked or International models. My service provider (Consumer Cellular) wasn’t able to explain why it wasn’t working.
I found this post on Reddit where user Ok_Squash_7782 details a work around to allow calling to work again. (https://www.reddit.com/r/ATT/comments/t7nphn/my_4g_phone_stopped_taking_and_receiving_calls/)
“I have a Galaxy S10+ that is 4g capable and it stopped taking and receiving phone calls a few days ago. I could use data, Wi-Fi, and get texts. Long story short, it isn’t the cell company’s fault. Its a Samsung issue. I went to a Cricket store to try to fix and they told me about this fix and did it to my phone. It worked!
- Update Google play store if needed.
- Download ‘Samsung band selection’ that looks like a rainbow circle (free app).
- Launch app and hit ‘Launch band selection’.
4)Select ‘wcdma all’.
5) Leave app and go to settings.
6) Go to ‘about phone’.
7) Hit ‘reset’ (this won’t do anything immediately so don’t worry).
8) Very carefully only select ‘Reset Network Settings’.
9) It will prompt you again to reset. Reset the network settings.
10) Restart phone. Fixed!
You will have to set up your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices again. Small price to pay for this fix. When I did this I had to go back to the app and select the wcdma all again as it didn’t seem to save the first time. Hope this helps others!
Edit: This appears to be a temporary fix for my international (unlocked) phone. See comments for more info.”
After applying the changes listed I found that I was once again able to make and receive calls on my Samsung A21s. Other posts to the thread noted that this fix is only good until June 30th 2022.
Reddit user Stellarspace1234 says that “The issue is that AT&T banned ‘non-AT&T’ branded phones from their network. The way AT&T set up their network is intentional.“
I noted similar comments on the AT&T forums, Reddit, Twitter, and other sites while I’ve searched for an answer. Another option is switching to a carrier that still supports 4G/LTE devices such as T-Mobile. That’s not really an option for me though as their service costs double what I am paying for Consumer Cellular.
Some forum answers suggested that a software update or a firmware flashing was needed to fix the phones. Others have said that the carrier can fix the problem, but is choosing not to. Still more blame the MVNO. It’s all quite a mess.
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