Galaxy s5 blue tick?

[Fritzie]

When I got my Samsung s8 phone in October 2017 I was assured it had a blue tick. It worked perfectly for the first 4 months. (I live in an old house with 600mm think stone walls, which is why I need the blue tick). Then after (I presume) an update I could not receive calls in the house. Nor could people hear me speak when I made calls, so I had to go outside. I took the phone to Samsung, and they did a factory reset. (They told me that it was probably because the update was not undertaken properly. So I set the updates to occur at 2am).  It worked properly for another  5 months and the same thing happened. I took it back to Samsung, who this time told me it was a Telstra issue. I took it to a Telstra shop where it was factory reset and had a new sim card installed. This did not make any difference, and I am still forced to go outside to make calls. It's not until I get a missed call notification (which does work) that I know the phone has rung. Last night my son sent a message because the phone was 'engaged' It was sitting beside me and not in use. I'm pretty fed up with this!

I've tried restarting the phone every morning after it's been on charge, but that doesn't work either.

Recently I had to call Telstra regarding an NBN outage and had to go outside to enable the service person to hear me, which didn't help when I had to make changes to my NBN box. In the end I had to get him to call me on my husbands phone which is a very basic 'senior's' phone, and works well inside.  

(Previously I had 2 HTC phones. The first worked perfectly during the whole time I had it. The new one, while also having a blue tick did not work in the house, just like the Samsung!) 

Friends with iphone 6 cannot get service inside.

I don't know where to go next. I'm just about due for my 12 month update phone, but what do I choose?  How can I guarantee it will be a blue tick? I love the Samsung- when it's working!!! 

[Jupiter]

One thing I would suggest is to leave your wifi switched on and connected to your home wifi network. That way your phone can use your NBN service instead of relying on the mobile network for calls.

It could be a change at the Tower, or an increase in the usage levels in your area (if there are more devices using the mobile network, then it's the devices with marginal signal that suffer).

[ProfessorPhone]

If your signal situation is due to a change in the networks cell site configuration .
. ..you could speak with the coverage group and if aporopriate...you may consider buying a repeater for your home.

[Fritzie]

That's an interesting solution Jupiter, I was advised by Samsung to turn off my wifi at home as it would interfere with the signal. hmmm. It still had the same issue, whether the wifi was on or off. I will try it again and report back. I'm willing to try anything! This last week I have had problems with connections outside my home, which is interesting...is it the handset or is it a Telstra signal issue?
I still think that when the phone is updated something triggers the 'blue tick' feature to turn off.
If the device has a 'marginal signal' why was it given the blue tick?
Thanks

[Fritzie]

Thanks Professor phone. I had a repeater connected, but that didn't make any difference either.
I still thin k that updates trigger a change in the phone signal.

[Jupiter]

There's no such thing as a 'blue tick' feature. The blue tick is given to devices based on the reception performance of the device.

If you aren't getting reception on a phone that has been given a blue tick on the Telstra site, then it just means that the reception in your area is too weak to penetrate your house. The only solution would be to get a repeater/smart antenna, which would set you back $1200 to $1500.

[ProfessorPhone]

Fritzie... who installed your repeater? The positioning is absolutely critical. How long was it and which model? Do you have an external antenna? You need your phone on the same band as the repeater. We really need specific information

[Fritzie]

Thanks Jupiter. Yes I agree that it's the reception performance of the device. I've lived here for 12 years and have had some great reception and some definitely not so great-depending on the phone. It's really only been a problem since smart phones have "evolved"! My husband's very basic "senior's" phone works just fine, as did previous Nokia's and HTC's! So that means the reception is just fine...it's the phone that's not! Trouble is Samsung's S8 was great for 5 months and then again after they reset it, and as I said in my original post, it was after updates that it failed to perform.
So I'm not going to spend money on a repeater/smart antenna, when I'm sure there's a phone out there which will do the job...it's just a matter of finding it!!!
Appreciate your feedback

[Fritzie]

Professor Phone...a friend of a friend installed it and the external antenna. Can't supply the details you asked for, but thanks for your advice. It's all too hard for a pensioner, and all I want is a phone that works here. I've had them in the past and I hope I'll be able to find one again.
Thanks

[cf4]

Have you checked that VOLTE is turned on? VOLTE must be enabled for voice calls on 4G networks. On the. S8 I think you will find setting at settings > connections > mobile networks. The updates might have turned VOLTE off.

[Fritzie]

Thanks cf4 but I don't have anything called VOLTE in my setting under any heading!?