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Drops mobile connection on some telcos with 'SIM processor syncing contacts'
On my Astro Slide using an EE based SIM, I keep getting dropped network connections with ‘SIM processor syncing contacts’ in notifications. It happens several times an hour, with connection lost variably between 30 secs and seemingly permanent loss until rebooted. This is even though I have no SIM contacts. I’ve tried adding a SIM contact and that made no difference
As discussed on Discord, it's more likely the SIM processor failure is deterministic of the radio service/firmware failing, and a simple cause.. and effect of this occurring.
I've reported a similar issue to planet support and I'm unsure if I should open a separate issue for this. Quoting from my mail to PC:
My provider is (formerly "Deutsche Telekom", displayed as) Telekom.de
Since I moved the Sim Card from my Cosmo to the Astro on Tuesday evening, I saw that occasionally "No Sim Card" was displayed.
When I commuted to work on Wednesday with the Astro for the first time, I sometimes had enough network connection to stream Spotify, but then the stream broke off.
I thought nothing of it at first since there are spots without mobile network on the route.
However when I sat still on my Sofa at home, with Wifi turned off, the display changed between "Telekom.de" and "No Sim Card".
I thought "maybe the sim card is broken" and went to the shop this morning to get a new one: Still the same behaviour.
- Display changes between "Telekom.de" and "No Sim Card" every few
- minutes When I played with the mobile network settings, I once saw
- the"SIM Provider" force-closing. Mobile Network is very unreliable
- to the point of being unusable.
Currently my only workaround is to keep my Sim Card in The Cosmo and carry both devices with me and use the mobile network via the Hotspot on the Cosmo, which works but is somewhat unsatisfactory.
I also occasionally see the F/C from the sim card processor, but the issue "no sim card" and dropped connection appears way more often.
PC support asked me to try downgrading the connection to 4G, which did not help. (I also tried downgrading to 3G and even 2G, but that is simply synonymous to no network in my area. I don't know if 2G is even available any more.)
As discussed on Discord, it's more likely the SIM processor failure is deterministic of the radio service/firmware failing, and a simple cause.. and effect of this occurring.
Which discord? Or did you mean Element(matrix)/Telegram? Because I checked in the Cosmo discord and found nothing. :)
As discussed on Discord, it's more likely the SIM processor failure is deterministic of the radio service/firmware failing, and a simple cause.. and effect of this occurring.
Which discord? Or did you mean Element(matrix)/Telegram? Because I checked in the Cosmo discord and found nothing. :)
Sorry, the Astro Slide Discord. That's not linked to the Telegram <-> Planet Discord.
Same behaviour here with a Dutch Tele2 SIM.
Being in France last week, I noticed the issue did not appear on the networks there (at least I never noticed). Being back in the Netherlands I switched of VoLTE and it appears to (almost) resolve the problem. Switching to 2G or 3G network preference didn't.
I can live without VoLTE for now. Hope this hints towards the direction where the issue may be and on the other hand may work as a workaround for those suffering from the same hickups.
Being back in the Netherlands I switched of VoLTE and it appears to (almost) resolve the problem. Switching to 2G or 3G network preference didn't.
I can live without VoLTE for now. Hope this hints towards the direction where the issue may be and on the other hand may work as a workaround for those suffering from the same hickups.
Thanks for that! That has helped me with Telekom.de as well!
I put the sim card back into the astro yesterday and switched off VoLTE and (because of superstition) VoWIFI as well (seems not be relevant, though).
And then I got very discouraged because the behaviour was almost the same at first. Connection dropped every few seconds (!) and the phone displayed "no sim card".
Then after a couple of minutes (or hours? not sure because I was working) I received a popup from my provider informing me of my phone number that I had to dismiss. After that my mobile connection was quite stable.
Then yesterday evening I decided to try turning on VoLTE again and the disconnects promptly reappeared and stayed the whole evening, even after I disabled VoLTE again.
This morning at some point the 5G reception became stable again (VoLTE turned off, VoWIFI turned on). I'm typing this on my Astro right now while streaming spotify on the train.
So this seems to be a good workaround, even if it takes a while (for me) to take hold. From the outside this looks like a fascinating bug. I'd appreciate some more technical detail once you figure them out.
Edit: Sorry to report that the behaviour just reappeared when the train entered the city. :( It seems to be worse in some areas. I did even see the "no simcard" message just now. A few kilometers farther to the east and it's more stable again. Weird.
Turning off VoLTE definitely does make it better, though.
Edit: It sort of stays stable if I stay in the same place for some time and I have VoLTE turned off. Turning VoLTE on breaks it immediately and it stays broken for some minutes or hours.
I received my Astro here in the UK at the beginning of January 2023. Having previously read of issues with EE I decided to purchase a pre-pay EE sim to try before committing to making the Astro my main driver. The area where I live does not have 5G, just 4G. The EE sim worked perfectly, with a strong stable connection. However as soon as I moved to an area with 5G area coverage I got the dropped signal reported above and the Astro kept cycling through trying to connect until eventually the No SIM error was displayed. This behavior continued regardless of weither the sim was mounted in slot 1 or slot 2. I then purchased a pre-paid sim from 3 and this has worked perfectly in both sim slots. There have been no issues with connection moving from a 4G to 5G area - the 3 sim works perfectly. I then tried both sims at once - EE sim in slot 1, 3 sim in slot 2. Again in a 4G area both sims performed perfectly. I tried using each one for data, calls and texts and every combination I could think of. All worked perfectly. Unfortunately as soon as I entered a 5G area the connection problems recurred, causing both sims to lose connection and after a few minutes of trying the No Sim error was displayed. I tried swapping the slot positions of the sims and varying which sim was used for data, calls and texts, but nothing worked. On returning to a 4G area the only way I could get connection again was by rebooting the Astro. Thereafter the connection of both sims was stable as long as long as I remained in a 4G area. I even experimented with and without different sd cards mounted, but this has no effect on the connection behaviour. As I sit here typing on the Astro I have the 3 sim in slot 1 working perfectly. The EE sim is in slot 2, but disabled. Disappointingly I can't use the Astro as my main driver because EE is my telecoms provider and my I'm tied into a sim deal for another 6 months. I thought the EE issues had been resolved by a firmware update before the phone was delivered, but clearly this is not the case. I just wanted to let you know of my experience in case it's helpful to someone with more technical knowledge than I. I must say that I love the Astro and this small glitch has been a minor irritation rather than a deal-breaker.
@StevieD49 did you try turning off VoLTE and wait (can be a couple of minutes to an hour)?
@StevieD49 Does using 4G-only mode work for your EE SIM? I know @TauPan's said it didn't for him, but I would've thought it'd make sense for that to work if the problem was with the transition to/between 5G
@StevieD49 did you try turning off VoLTE and wait (can be a couple of minutes to an hour)?
@TauPan Thank you for your reply. I tried switching off both sims and each sim one at a time on different occasions, leaving about 2 hours before trying again. Unfortunately as soon as I tried to re-enable the EE sim the connection problems recurred.
@StevieD49 Does using 4G-only mode work for your EE SIM? I know @TauPan's said it didn't for him, but I would've thought it'd make sense for that to work if the problem was with the transition to/between 5G
@ZimbiX Interestingly the EE sim only shows up to 4G as connection type while the 3 sim shows 5G (recommended). Perhaps the EE sim does not support 5G although the girl in the shop assured me that all UK EE sim cards were 5G ready. This may be the root cause of my connection problems. I suppose the last thing to try will be to install the EE sim in my Samsung Flip and see if 5G works. Unfortunately I'm going to have to fork out another £15 to reactivate the sim before I can test this. Update: I shelled out for the credit and enabled the EE sim as the default for data, calls & texts on the Astro. Oddly the sim now gives the option of 5G (recommended) which I have selected. I have also followed @TauPan's suggestion of disabling 4G calling. I think I've tried this before, but I've tried so many combinations that I can't be sure. At the minute I'm at home in an area with 4G coverage and both sims are working perfectly. It will be interesting to see how they behave tomorrow at work, when I'm in a 5G area. Many thanks for your feedback
@StevieD49 did you try turning off VoLTE and wait (can be a couple of minutes to an hour)?
@TauPan Thank you for your reply. I tried switching off both sims and each sim one at a time on different occasions, leaving about 2 hours before trying again. Unfortunately as soon as I tried to re-enable the EE sim the connection problems recurred.
Switching off the SIM completely is not what I meant.
If you go to settings, network and then tap on your mobile connection for the EE SIM you get the option to disable 4g calls. Try to turn it off, then wait.