Mobile data abruptly stopped working - exclamation mark in 4G symbol

[samwiseuk]

Hi,

I have a rolling BT Mobile contract SIM.

Over the weekend, last Saturday (26th) I think, my mobile data usage has ceased working.  I don't think it is a hardware fault in my Pixel Pro 7 (Android v13) - I don't believe I have dropped my phone recently, and switching out the SIM card out to a Pixel Pro 6 results in the same issue.  I was in an area with very patchy signal when this began so it is possible that the phone may have been connecting / disconnecting to 4G a lot at the time, if that is of any relevance.  Calls, SMS messaging and WiFi continue to function perfectly.

I have tried as many things as I can think of to no avail, including:

• disabling / re-enabiing 4G data
• applying airplane mode / disabling airplane mode
• disabling / re-enabling SIM card
• setting a data limit and then removing it again
• rebooting phone
• disabling "Automatically select network" and trying to forcibly select GSM/3G/4G
• disabling 4G and leaving it overnight before re-enabling to see if it just needed time for something to clear
• taking out the SIM card, dusting it with a microfibre cloth and re-inserting
• trying out the SIM card in a Pixel 6 Pro - resulting in the same behaviour
• resetting "Access point names" to default (and confirming the information looks correct)
• resetting Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth network settings

I have discovered that on at least three occasions, including twice yesterday evening, if I force the phone to connect to the 3G network, then the mobile data suddenly starts working.  It then auto-connects to the 4G network, with the data still working.  This success lasted for maybe 20-30 mins before the exclamation mark returned and data was dead again.  Most other times, selecting the 3G network has made no difference at all - just these three periods.

I am at a loss as to what else to try and am beginning to wonder if this is a problem at the network end, but I have no idea how to best raise this with support as the BT Mobile support site seems to just link to a number of FAQs which do not cover the issue I am experiencing.

Can anyone help?  or direct me to a support option that can?

[rbz5416]

Check the EE status here. Note that you have to manually select status as the default is the mythical coverage checker.

Although if it shows a fault there's nothing you can do. I was trying to help someone on Plusnet last week & the status was showing an error that would be fixed in 16 hours. After three days I tried EE on Twitter but they will only talk to EE account holders, so MVNO account holders are stuffed. It eventually cleared after five days

[samwiseuk]

As I expected, it reports no known issues.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's a coverage problem in that sense.  I was 200+ miles away when this started and it failed to work all the way home.  Also, I have been sat next to others with EE coverage with no issues at all.  😕  It definitely appears to be an issue with my SIM / connection.

[rbz5416]

Not sure if already tried but one trick is to disable automatic network selection & try to connect to another, say Vodafone. When that times out, manually select BT/EE.

[samwiseuk]

Thanks, I had only tried connecting to the BT networks so that is something new to try ... unfortunately, it made no difference at all.  Just straight back to the 4G exclamation mark symbol. 😞

[rbz5416]

I guess the only way forward is to try a replacement SIM. I think you used to be able to order one online but not sure if you still can. Check your services under MyBT. Probably easier to say yours is damaged rather than try to explain the real issue...

[samwiseuk]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing - I really am out of ideas.

I called 150 and got put through to second line support.  They asked me to hang up and try the old BT Mobile APN settings (which didn't work), so I'm now waiting for them to call back.

When they do, I'll ask if getting a new SIM is an option ...

[samwiseuk · Accepted solution]

After a fortnight, my data problem is finally fixed so I thought I'd finish documenting the frustrating saga here for anyone else who experiences anything similar.

I had a challenging journey through the BT 150 support line.  I never received the expected call back from the second line support team mentioned previously, so I was forced to call back again two days later.  After waiting in a queue for two hours, I had to spend another hour chatting with first and then second line support again, repeating the information and retrying a few tests so they could see the specific times I had done certain things. 

I hadn't been able to order a new SIM card myself through the My BT portal because if I select the reason that mine is broken, they refer you to the 150 support line, so whilst I was on the phone I specifically asked whether they would send me a new one as I had nothing left to try at my end but I was refused - confusingly, they cited that because I had put my current SIM card into another phone and it didn't work there either, that somehow proved that my SIM card wasn't at fault?  This seemed to me to be pretty illogical, but as calls and texts were working perfectly on my SIM card it would have been a long shot, anyway, so I didn't push it.

Second line support did however submit my issue through to another (third line?) department for investigation who would call me back within five working days.  I received a call from that team the next week, asking me to confirm more information and to retry a few things.  They then asked me to repeat the experiment of switching my SIM card into another phone but this time to leave it in for longer - maybe an hour or so - and make a note of the time.  I did this - and also switched another SIM card into my phone for the hour, which proved yet again that the issue was not with my device.

Infuriatingly, everything ground to a halt then as I spent days being bombarded by voicemails.  The team said they would call back the next day to check the result of my previous test - and left me with no mechanism for updating them directly.  I received a text message the next day to say they were due to call, and immediately after received a voicemail (no call) that they had failed to reach me and they would try again - tomorrow.  This pattern continued for three more days.  The calls failed to connect and rather than try again a minute or two later, they just gave up for the day.  I was finally able to pick up the call on the last working day of the week.  After expressing frustration that my case had been stuck on hold for days due to this practice, I was given an email address which I could have used to send in the result of my test days previously, if I'd known of it.  Maddening - and a learning point for next time: ask for some form of direct contact information, if it hasn't already been offered.

As it was the last working day, I didn't hear from anyone over the weekend but I was delighted to discover on Sunday, two weeks after it first went out, my data connection quietly kicked in successfully.  After it was still connected an hour later, I began to feel my confidence rising.

I eventually received a call back regarding my case on my commute home on Monday.  Given the intermittent issues I'd had, we agreed they'd call back again in a couple of days - just to give it a little more time to be sure the issue had cleared.

What had gone wrong?  I still have absolutely no idea, and neither did the team investigating, apparently.  I was told that it was probably the result of some of the restarts etc. I had done over the previous weeks "kicking in", which made me raise a skeptical eyebrow.  Clearly, something somewhere in the system had cleared but I don't think I'll ever find out what.  I am at least relieved that the issue appears to have finally been sorted.