S21 + Poor Vodafone Signal Strength

[The_Sentinel]

I have recently purchased a refurbished S21 + phone to replace my previous S8+ phone that finally gave up the ghost.

The Vodafone signal on the S21+ is very poor or mostly non existent, compared to what I was getting with the S8+. Initially I used the old SIM from the S8+, but due to the poor signal strength on the S21+ I contacted Vodafone and went through a series of checks and tests. There was no improvement after these checks and Vodafone suggested I got a new SIM,  considering considering my existing one was around 10 years old.

I got a replacement SIM, but there was absolutely no improvement in signal strength with the S21+.  Can anyone suggest what the problem might be here? As you can imagine, its scary leaving home and driving around with a phone that hardly ever connects to the Vodafone network. 

Thanks in advance...…K

[Robin999]

Hey,

@Piper123 referred to a known issue with the S21 poor signal issue here

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/other-galaxy-s-series/s21-fe-terrible-gsm-signal/m-p/8070871#M81...

[The_Sentinel]

Thanks for that. Trust me to buy a Samsung phone with a known poor signal issue !

[Piper123 · Accepted solution]

Hey there and welcome to the Samsung UK Community Forum

The S21 series had a truly awful modern inside. As a result, unless you lived on a large town / city or lived next to a Base station, connectivity was poor.

Talking to Samsung Customer Service was a waste of time. All the usual bullcrap came out:

We will put a note on your account,

We will raise this with the relevant team (what is the relevant team - try phoning up and asking to be put through),

We will pass this up to management and you'll get an email within 2 days (never happened, but why send an email, Samsung are the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, isn't it good to talk),

I spent months wrangling with them before posting the nuclear burton to get my money back.

S24 and S23 Series (I had the Ultra in both cases) MUCH better.

Also note that Vodafone have turned off their entire 3g network and that is impacting on connections. I've recently left Talkmobile (owned by Vodafone) for EE.

[Robin999]

To be fair, this still could be 'fixable'

Try the below troubleshooter. At the bottom of the page, just tap 'No, l need more help' to progress to the next section.

https://www.samsung.com/us/support/troubleshooting/TSG01001598/#try-these-common-fixes-for-low-or-no...

[Robin999]

Thanks Pip

[Piper123]

It was the 5123b modern. Even Samsung said it wasn't their finest effort 😥😥

[-Robot-]

Report as spam!!!

Only joking!!! I am on Vodafone too, Vodafone has to take some of the blame for this too

Used to have amazing network, not so much anymore but still think best around as far as I have experienced

[The_Sentinel]

Thanks for that info. Trust me to buy an S21+. The phone was bought from Amazon.

I plan to buy another phone that doesn't have the S21's connectivity issues.

I'll copy everything over to the replacement phone, then return to S21+ to Amazon.

Wish me luck !

[The_Sentinel]

Hi Again,
After lots of chacks and online chats with Vodafone, it turned out that the S21 + phone was at fault. Absolutely useless network connectivity. The other phones in the house worked fine (S24 Ultra and iPhone 6's)
I've returned the S21+ via Amazon for a refund. I've replaced it with an S20+ and it has absolutely no connectivity issues at all.
Such a shame as I really liked the feel of the S21 +. You live and learn!