2G/3G Phone calls no longer possible on 4.6.0.15 (XA2 Plus & X10 iii)

Bug Reports
#1

REPRODUCIBILITY: 100%
OS VERSION: 4.6.0.15
HARDWARE: Sony Xperia XA2 Plus and Sony Xperia 10 iii
UI LANGUAGE: English
REGRESSION: Yes

DESCRIPTION:

I have two SFOS phones - a Sony Xperia 10 iii (on EE in the UK) and a Sony Xperia XA2 Plus (on ‘3’ in the UK). Both were on OS version 4.6.0.13 and both were able to make/receive phone calls on either 2G/3G (XA2+ and X10 iii) or 4G (X10 iii only).

Both phones have now been upgraded to the latest 4.6.0.15 release and no problems or error messages were encountered when upgrading either phone. The upgrades went very smoothly and totally as expected (i.e. downloaded, install, blank screen, reboot, SFOS logo, progress bar, reboot, passcode entry, normal operation). Both phones show 4.6.0.15 in settings/about.

Everything works exactly as it should, apart from 2G/3G (i.e. non-VOLTE) phone calls.

The symptoms (on BOTH phones) are as follows:

  1. Make a phone call - screen says ‘dialling’.
  2. The 4G indicator, which I expect to drop to 2G/3G during this process, stays at 4G and mobile data continues to work throughout the ‘dialling’ period.
  3. Eventually the call times out and the error ‘connection problem’ is displayed

If you dial the phone from another (e.g. my iPhone 14) it simply rings on the dialling phone but nothing at all happens on the SFOS phone (either XA2+ or 10 iii). The call eventually goes to voicemail, but there is no indication on the SFOS phone that a call ever was received.

If you enable 4G calling on the X10 iii then calls can be made and received without problem. If you disable 4G calling again the same thing happens as above and no phone calls are possible.

PRECONDITIONS:

Sony Xperia XA2 Plus and or Sony Xperia 10 iii on SFOS 4.6.0.15, both phones being upgraded in the normal way from 4.6.0.13, not flashed from scratch with 4.6.0.15.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

See above

EXPECTED RESULT:

Non VoLTE phone calls are possible on both phones.

ACTUAL RESULT:

Only VOLTE phone calls can be made/received on X10 iii

MODIFICATIONS:

Patchmanager plus ICE patch on X10 iii & XA2+ and additionally patch (can’t remember the name) to shrink app grid icon sizes on XA2+

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The following make no difference to this situation on either phone:

  1. Restarting the network subsystem from settings/utilities
  2. Re-booting the phone
  3. Swapping SIM cards
  4. Enabling/Disabling mobile data
  5. Swapping SIM cards from SIM 1 to SIM 2
  6. Enabling/Disabling SIM cards in settings/utilities
  7. Shouting loudly at either phone :wink:
#2

A quick update after more testing … On the X10 iii disabling 4G calling in settings now completely disables mobile data - the option in settings is greyed out and cannot be re-enabled. But, if you then enable 4G calling AND re-boot, both mobile data and 4G calling works again.

Obviously this does not happen on the XA2+ because there is no 4G calling option.

#3

What have you done to verify the 2G and 3G networks are still present and working?

#4

On my SFOS phones?, Or in the UK?, Or …? It would help if you were more precise with your question, but If you are asking whether there are still 2G/3G networks working here in the UK where I live, then yes, there are.

EE (Sony Xperia 10 iii) has already shutdown 3G but 2G is still active and ‘3’ (Sony Xperia XA2+) still supports 3G (until 2025).

2G is remaining in the UK for the foreseeable future as too much technology (e.g. emergency services pagers, remote streetlighting control, alarm systems, smart meters, etc) relies on it because of the low power and bandwidth requirements.

It would also be an unlikely coincidence that both EE and ‘3’ would shutdown their 2G and 3G networks literally in the same hour that I upgraded both my phones. I can also see my iPhone dropping to 2G in poor signal areas where I live as well.

#5

I asked about the network, not the phones. I maintain that i’m being precise enough.

But to fluff it out; can you (with some other device):
A) call on 2G in the spot where this is observed
B) achieve CSFB (4G-to-3G/2G downgrade when pacing a call) when you turn VoLTE off

And how does it work if you set the network mode to 2G on your SFOS phones?

Certainly; but the ofono modes for the two mentioned devices are also very different - so also fairly unlikely to share issues.

#7

No, not readily. You can no longer force recent iPhones/IOS to use a particular ‘G’ standard - you are only able to select between 4G and 5G (if you want to mandate 5G because of speed, or 4G because it uses less power). iPhones will however automatically drop to a lower ‘G’ if the signal at the current ‘G’ is not good enough, but I cannot plan for this - it happens when it happens. I have used (painfully) data at 2G on the iphone in the last few days when this did happen, but no calls. I have no Android or other devices.

On the X10 iii (EE network) - As soon as you set ‘Prefer 3G’ or ‘Prefer 2G’ mobile data is disabled (i.e. the mobile data option is greyed out and cannot be selected). It only works if you set ‘Prefer 5G’ or ‘Prefer 4G’.

On the XA2+ (‘3’ network) - As soon as you set ‘Prefer 3G’ mobile data is disabled (i.e. the mobile data option is greyed out and cannot be selected). It only works if you set ‘Prefer 4G’.

#8

No turning off VoLTE on iOS either?

Sure; it borks mobile data to go to 3G/2G (indeed a big issue by itself) - but what about calls?

#9

i just check that i CAN still make calls on 2G in 4.6.0.15 on my 10 III (and can connect to mobile data on 2.5G) when i select “2G-only” and disable “4G calling”.
i confirmed that the call was definitely not VoLTE. this is on t-mobile in ny, usa. (i cannot test 3G, since there is no 3G here anymore)

#10

No, not that I can see. You can only enable/disable wifi calling, not VoLTE calling.

No, calls don’t work on 3G or 2G on SFOS on either phone - that is the point of the original bug report. On iPhone I’ll try when it next happens, but as I said above, I cannot control this.

#11

I was trying to help sort out whether 2G/3G calls as such don’t work, or if just CSFB doesn’t work. I could not judge this from the original bug report.

#12

Ok, remembered that I still had an old Blackberry Passport phone, probably last used several years ago. It still retained a small battery charge so I’ve popped the ‘3’ SIM in it and tried phoning my iphone. This would have been on 3G (since the Passport, from 2013, is too old to have 4G calling and ‘3’ doesn’t do 2G). The call went through to my iPhone just fine and also the Passport could receive a call as well. I’ll try the EE SIM card next (which does both 2G and 3G) but I expect it will work fine.

#13

And it does - though I could not tell if the call went through on 3G or 2G.

#14

It seems a reasonable assumption that two different mobile networks in the UK (‘3’ and ‘EE’) have not both made changes at the same time that would render non-VoLTE calling inoperable on my two SFOS phones (yes, I know the XA2+ doesn’t do VoLTE on SFOS). Especially since there are no problems on other phone types (iPhone, Blackberry).

And, since @teleshoes can make non VoLTE calls on an X10 iii in the US, the obvious question is whether Jolla have made any changes to the phone stack in SFOS between .13 and .15 that could have caused an interaction problem between SFOS and these two UK networks?

Anyway, at least for now I will need to rely on my iPhone(s) for work and play, since I cannot rely on a phone (XA2+ which was my main daily driver) that can no longer make or receive phone calls. The X10 iii, with its disappearing sound, almost non-functional camera (unless you and your subject stay perfectly still), alarms that don’t go off, etc is simply not usable for me as a daily driver. :pensive:

#15

actually…both 3 and EE have been shutting down their 3G networks only this year, and both have done it in stages and pieces. the tower nearest you may, in fact, have shut down 3g for both at once.
in fact, 3 should officially not be able to make non-VoLTE calls for anyone anywhere, as they never had 2G. you may find that your EE sim can make 2G calls still, but then again, you may not.

this is mostly solved, by using the android opencamera app (or any other android camera app), and selecting camera2 api. you can even access all the lenses if youre careful.

#16

EE still does 2G in my area and ‘3’ still does 3G in my area as of now (as per above tests using other phone types) though it may be different towards the end of this year for ‘3’. EE has committed to keep 2G networks active in the UK until 2033 because of the public technology that uses it (see above post).

If you are saying that non-VoLTE calls are NOT possible on 3G then, because ‘3’ don’t support 2G I don’t understand how my XA2+ was ever able to make phone calls even before the upgrade to .15 as it’s only ever had a ‘3’ SIM card in it since I bought it last year (as the !0 iii was so unreliable - see a different comparative post from me some months ago).

This is all getting really confusing!

#17

i meant ‘Three’ the telecom. you shouldn’t be able to make non-volte calls there, because they don’t have 2G, and they have largely dropped 3G support and expect to fully drop 3G support in the next 90 days. even if one phone works on 3G on Three, i wouldnt count on it still working tomorrow anyway.

however, it sounds like you should be able to make 2G calls on your EE sim on 10 III, and you cannot. if this is true, it is odd, and is probably a quirk of your telecom. perhaps they are dropping support for 2g calls, and only allowing IoT data connections. see if your old phone without LTE can make calls with EE. if so, then this is probably fixable on the XA2

#18

I had something like this myself yesterday on 4.6.0.15. Xperia 10 III Elisa Finland and VoLTE disabled. Strong 4G at home. Friend called me and I answered like 3 seconds after the phone started vibrating. Friend told me he almost hung up because I was not answering.

Makes me think if this is going to make me miss calls and not even know about it.

edit: I don’t remember why I have disabled VoLTE but will enable it to maybe prevent this from happening.