Emergency calls only | Unregistered SIM message

[PeaveyAxe]

Has anybody on the Bell network got the message "Emergency calls only |Unregistered SIM" on their Sasmsung Galaxy S2? It appears on the lock screen and disables the data connection, and sometimes the ability to make calls as well. Wifi works fine. I have replaced SIM card once, and have done a factory reset, but does not fix the problem. It tends to happen when there is a poor signal. If you go to an area with better reception, the connection does not automatically restore itself. This is a very annoying problem. Toggling flight mode on and off fixes the problem.

[xperiax10]

This happens when the phone switches from 3g to 2g or vice versa . I have that happen to my x10 on Rogers . You can manually switch from 3g to 2g by going to settings > wireless and networks > mobile networks > network mode , so when you are in a low signal area click on gsm(2g) ,and when you are in strong signal area click on wcdma (3g), this not only resolves your emergency calls issue but switching to gsm in a low signal area will help your battery life , since your phone is constantly searching for better signal.

[PeaveyAxe]

Thanks for the info, but I already tried that, didn't seem to help for me.:confused:

[MrCrowley]

Not what you want to hear but my Samsung on Telus does the same thing every once in a while. I live in Southwestern ON and in my local area Bell owns the Telus towers, right now Bell is doing upgrades etc to the towers so in the night (not every night) my phone will go to emergency calls and in the am if I see this, I just restart my phone.

[PeaveyAxe]

Thanks Mr. Crowley, it seems to happen during the night mostly for me too over here in central Alberta.

[davidA]

This may be unrelated but the same thing happens to me (with a regular Samsung cell phone) when I try to make calls.

After much trouble shooting, I have discovered that the phone is just a poor phone and that it can only make calls when I am smack in the middle of a very strong signal area. Anywhere remotely near the fringes of the signal area I receive the same 'Emergency Calls Only' message. The truth is that Samsung phones are pretty useless, if you are travelling anywhere outside the centre of a major city.

This happens in the UK and in Canada (I receive the very same error message) - I should just throw the phone away and be done with it.

[MrCrowley]

This may be unrelated but the same thing happens to me (with a regular Samsung cell phone) when I try to make calls.

After much trouble shooting, I have discovered that the phone is just a poor phone and that it can only make calls when I am smack in the middle of a very strong signal area. Anywhere remotely near the fringes of the signal area I receive the same 'Emergency Calls Only' message. The truth is that Samsung phones are pretty useless, if you are travelling anywhere outside the centre of a major city.

This happens in the UK and in Canada (I receive the very same error message) - I should just throw the phone away and be done with it.

Depending on the age of your phone, it could be a radio going bad (had that happen in my Blackberry 8330), or just a problem on an entry level phone (get what you pay for). For what it is worth, I have 2 different HTC phones here and 2 Samsung phones and all the phones do it, which tells me it is a network issue not really a phone issue.

[davidA]

Depending on the age of your phone, it could be a radio going bad (had that happen in my Blackberry 8330), or just a problem on an entry level phone (get what you pay for). For what it is worth, I have 2 different HTC phones here and 2 Samsung phones and all the phones do it, which tells me it is a network issue not really a phone issue.

As the exact same error message shows up (in many different countries) and I am unable to make calls, I would very much doubt that. But I could be wrong :)

[PeaveyAxe]

OK, narrowed down the problem possibly. When I go into settings > wireless and network > mobile networks > network operators and search networks, there are 3 networks all labelled Bell. If I try to connect to them manually, the first 2 in the list connect fine, but the third one gives message "Unable to select network, select automatically", and "Your SIM card does not allow access to this network". Then it connects to one of the first 2 automatically. This leads me to believe that it sometimes tries to connect to the 3rd one when it can't connect to the other 2. I'm gonna phone Bell Technical Support on this (not expecting much help from them, but I'll try anyway).

[Phyxius]

small suggestion if possible... try (if possible) to put your sim card in an other phone... same carrier... if it does the same thing in the other phone with YOUR sim card but doesn't with his, it could indicate that the sim card is defective...

if it doesn't do the same thing in your friends phone then it would indicate your handset is defective. make sure your handset has the latest carrier settings, and OS/Firmware version

if you notice that everyone on the same network has the same issue in your area, then that would indicate network issue and you would need to call your carrier to log a ticket, even if they know of the on-going issue, the more tickets logged the faster the issue gets resolved.

hope this helps!

[davidA]

Speaking only for myself, I am 100% sure that the Samsung phone I was referring to (in my previous posts) is not defective. It was a present from a friend and was purchased new in the UK. The phone gave out this error message from day one, when not in the midst of a signal area. After receiving the same error message (in other European countries) where the same problems occurred, I brought it to Canada, and activated it on the Rogers network, only to be faced with the exact same problem. So, I sent the phone back (for replacement) to Vodafone in the UK, only to discover that the replacement had the exact same problem.

To continue.... I have purchased other Samsung phones (at least two from Telus) - over the years, which have also had this exact same problem.

Which leads me to believe that Samsung phones are junk (as phones at least) Samsung have no clue as to how to manufacture a decent phone, although they may have other redeeming features, they just have no clue, as to how to manufacture a phone that can make decent telephone calls... which is what any phone, is supposed to be all about (only in the first instance of course :)

[Phyxius]

the problem with this is when a phone is unlocked, carriers will not guarantee service on them. if the phone comes directly from the carrier itself and you swapped the sim card, you tried your sim in an other phone and it doesn't happen then it would show that it is the handset that is defective.

as to how reliable samsung phones are and to how often this situation happens on other samsung phones, i don't know. i would ask your local dealer stores and ask how many returns they have experiences with the phone.

could be that you just had the worst luck in the world for phones.. .i have been lucky never to run into any problem with a phone. i had the bb 9530 which was plagued with problems.. i didn't have 1.

iphone reception issues.. none.