SIM keeps disconnecting on Fairphone 5

Hi all,

Since more than a year (maybe two), my phone disconnects the SIM card every now and then. Sometimes, there are no problems for months, and at other times it disconnects multiple times a day, in which case I’m without cellular connection and mobile internet. Restarting the phone often helps, but not always. I have a Fairphone 5 running the latest version of iodéOS (7.4) with a Dutch SIM card from hollandsnieuwe on the Vodafone network.

I’m really in the dark as to what the cause of the problem could be. Is it the phone’s hardware, is it the SIM card, is it iodéOS (and what part of it)? If you have an idea or have similar experiences, please let me know.

Niels

Hi,

did you contact Fairphone in case it could be a dodgy connector or similar hardware problems? That would be the first thing I’d do, they might be able to give you DIY advise or even repair your phone.

jwalesch

Interesting, I had similar issues when I had the Fairphone 5 with iodeOS (sold it a year ago). But I don’t know why, I assumed it was a provider issue but it never happened again on the Fairphone 6 with the same ISP. :thinking:

Btw, Fairphone only supports /e/OS & FairphoneOS, so I wouldn’t try contacting support unless you verified it happens with one of those.

Well this does happen even with stock Google and Apple devices, with a reboot being needed (ask my family members :slight_smile: ). It was more common when 3G was getting phased out here, then if moving around it got hung up sometimes. I blame the cellular networks more than the OS. Is it possible your carrier has updated APN settings that may be more compatible (or a IPv4 > IPv6 migration, etc?)

Thanks all for the suggestions. I also contacted my cellular provider and they asked my to write down when and where this issue occurs so that’s what I’m doing now. They may be able to help if they have some of this data. Will get back here when if I have results. If that all doesn’t work I’ll contact fairphone or buy a replacement “top unit“ that contains the SIM card reader. Long live repairable phones :wink:

Can you please confirm with *#*#4636#*#* “> Phone Information > 3 dots > IMS Service” or “> Phone Information (v2) > IMS tab at bottom” that IMS registration and Voice over LTE are registered?

Also in “System Settings > Network & internet > SIMs > (your sim)” you may be able to confirm your network connection type (sorry forgot the name I am away from my device now) is set to allow 3G / 4G / 5G.