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three net settings

timeless

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long story short lve acquired myself a 4G ready phone, a Blackview A8 Max..

now three have just blown me off saying they dont send out settings any more, but lm having problems accessing 4G, its connecting fine and lm getting 3G ok, but all l have seen of 4G is the icon flash up once unlike my mothers Samsung S7 which constantly shows a good 4G signal.

one thing thats particularly confused me in past and present is that while lve no problems otherwise, lve been in the about phone information where l should see my phone number but it shows as blank and the mobile network state shows as disconnected while my second sim (which is now in the phone) shows my number and network state (its on the same network) but this little issue has been consistent in my previous phones as well despite it working fine, either way l just want to get it to use 4G where available, and therein lays my issue its not using 4G in a good signal area.
 
It could just be because the phone is crap :) . Blackview are an HK/Chinese company, but unlike Samsung and other major manufactures they don't have a local EU/UK base and don't change their kit to adopt hardware specific to our local market. Instead they adopt general chipsets that try to be all things to all people, which is fine but they're not always the best when it comes to.. you know.. working.

Now don't get me wrong here, I've had some perfectly good Smartphones from HK/China but I've also had a few with the same sort of issue as you're seeing. Anyway usually in these cases it's either because there's a configuration issue with the SIM or the phone itself is wonky. A quick look at the phones chipset suggests that it covers all the right spectrum bands for the UK and since I'm on Three UK too then let me share my APN settings.

Funnily enough my Sony Z5 Premium has two APNs.

So go to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile networks..

'Preferred network type' should be '4G (preferred)/WCDMA/GSM'.

Then click 'Access Point Names'. Now under here I have two APNs but the one my phone uses for 4G is called '3' (subheading below in grey is 'three.co.uk'). Click that and the details are as follows:

Name: 3
APN: three.co.uk
Proxy: not set
Port: not set
username: not set
password: not set
server: not set
mmsc: http://mms.um.three.co.uk:10021/mmsc
mms proxy: mms.three.co.uk
mms port: 8799
mcc: 234
mnc: 20
authentication type: not set
apn type: default,supl,mms
apn protocol: IPv4/IPv6
apn roaming protocol: IPv4/IPv6
apn enable/disable: (says "APN enabled" but this option is greyed out and seems disabled)
bearer: Unspecified
mvno type: GID
mvno value: 0303

Ok that's it and remember to use the exact same settings, including case sensitivity, as I've put above because even one thing wrong with the APN profile will stop it working correctly. As such I've copied everything out exactly.

I'd also suggest you make sure that Three UK has enabled your SIM to work abroad (can see this in your My Account page on My3), just in case that's causing some confusion within the device.
 
Hi Timeless,

A lot of these older phones only support 3/4G on one SIM, the other will only support 2G.

And this is a pretty underwhelming spec phone.

Also, it might be the SIMS have to be on different networks/frequency bands - I remember reading something about this a while back (for a different brand phone - but fairly certain this is a badge phone- ie made by someone and just badged Blackview).
 
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It's perfectly possible to have a 3G-only transmitter as your nearest one to which the phone "latches" all the time with five bars of signal, and a 4G one a little further away which only gives e.g. 2 bars.

While the 4G one might give faster speeds even with a weaker signal, the phone may well prefer the 3G one with the stronger signal.
 
from what l was told all my local masts have been upgraded to support 4G, and l have noticed when l turn it on 4G flashes up for a moment but then disappears.. everyone elses phones seem to hold a good consistent 4G signal.

as for the APN settings mark, my only differences were the IP protocols were only set to IPv4 rather than the mixed settings you have and mvno type/value werent set.
 
Just a thought.

Have you tried using mobile internet? WHat happens??

I ask because my wifes Samsung Note doesnt show 4G unless she tries to use a data service; then it springs into life. I suspect (as an older device), that it powers down the 4G side to the bare minimum to keep track of the 4G cell until it needs to - to reduce battery use.

As soon as SWMBO opens her phones internet browser, 4G springs into life - although not at as high a signal percentage shown as my new Xiaomi.
 
doesnt make a difference, about the only time l see it flas up 4G is when l turn it on or reboot it, otherwise its a constant 3G signal.
 
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Only other thing I can think of is the 4G circuits are bjorked. This sadly is a fact of life with the cheaper end of Chinese devices; my first three China-phones all had faults of one sort or another.

Have you tried a different network SIM - one that uses a different 4G band, to see if that gets you a 4G signal??

If not, then I would suggest you get a Xiaomi next time.
 
weird thing happened this morning, it showed 4G for like 5mins before going back to 3G, still may pop to the local three shop at some point to query the reason regarding why the contract sim has never shown phone number information and network status as disconnected in the about phone information, l thought it was just my old phones were crap as they were all rooted but l guess its not that simple, tho l cant complain as things have been working.
 
If you phone has a hidden engineer mode you can turn bands on and off including all 3G bands, that could force it onto 4G unless the issue is a rubbish aerial on the phone.
 
It could just be because the phone is crap :) . Blackview are an HK/Chinese company, but unlike Samsung and other major manufactures they don't have a local EU/UK base and don't change their kit to adopt hardware specific to our local market. Instead they adopt general chipsets that try to be all things to all people, which is fine but they're not always the best when it comes to.. you know.. working.

Now don't get me wrong here, I've had some perfectly good Smartphones from HK/China but I've also had a few with the same sort of issue as you're seeing. Anyway usually in these cases it's either because there's a configuration issue with the SIM or the phone itself is wonky. A quick look at the phones chipset suggests that it covers all the right spectrum bands for the UK and since I'm on Three UK too then let me share my APN settings.

Funnily enough my Sony Z5 Premium has two APNs.

So go to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile networks..

'Preferred network type' should be '4G (preferred)/WCDMA/GSM'.

Then click 'Access Point Names'. Now under here I have two APNs but the one my phone uses for 4G is called '3' (subheading below in grey is 'three.co.uk'). Click that and the details are as follows:

Name: 3
APN: three.co.uk
Proxy: not set
Port: not set
username: not set
password: not set
server: not set
mmsc: http://mms.um.three.co.uk:10021/mmsc
mms proxy: mms.three.co.uk
mms port: 8799
mcc: 234
mnc: 20
authentication type: not set
apn type: default,supl,mms
apn protocol: IPv4/IPv6
apn roaming protocol: IPv4/IPv6
apn enable/disable: (says "APN enabled" but this option is greyed out and seems disabled)
bearer: Unspecified
mvno type: GID
mvno value: 0303

Ok that's it and remember to use the exact same settings, including case sensitivity, as I've put above because even one thing wrong with the APN profile will stop it working correctly. As such I've copied everything out exactly.

I'd also suggest you make sure that Three UK has enabled your SIM to work abroad (can see this in your My Account page on My3), just in case that's causing some confusion within the device.
Hiya mark, is the other APN by any chance called 3internet? If it is, use that one as it has no CGNAT and you get assigned your own IP address (You probably already know what CGNAT is) I had two on my phone too but I always use 3internet.
 
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Try not to revive such old threads..
 
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