AT&T mobile data flaky

Help Me
1

Last night, my cable Internet went out. Aha, I can use mobile data on my RW Moto G Stylus (2020), I thought. I’m on the “Only What You Need” plan.

But I could not get any data for a long while. Then I then plugged in a power USB cable, and voila, I got data (which makes no sense). The data lasted long enough for me to get in my Uber Eats order :slight_smile: Later, though, the mobile data stopped flowing.

Today, there’s still no mobile data. The strength meter shows a little “x”.

Is the lack of data likely a problem with my phone, the AT&T network, or something else?

I’m able to make cell calls without any problem.

2

Hi @psteckler,

Let’s start with some questions intended to help us better help you.

  1. Has cell data been reliable at home previously?
  2. If not, is it reliable when out and about away from home?
  3. Please sign into your Republic account here: https://account.republicwireless.com/accountmgt/
  4. How much of your monthly data does it say you’ve used?

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@psteckler said:
Today, there’s still no mobile data. The strength meter shows a little “x”.

The little X means your connection is not currently providing cell data.

  1. If you temporarily turn WiFi off on the phone, how full is the cell strength triangle?
  2. Do you see any letters other than the X (LTE, H or an E)?

@psteckler said:
Is the lack of data likely a problem with my phone, the AT&T network, or something else?

Too soon to tell. :slight_smile:

3

If I turn off WiFi and mobile data, the signal strength triangle is solid, meaning full strength.

If I then turn on mobile data, the “x” appears and, to the left of the strength triangle, the text “4G” appears above “LTE” in smaller letters. The strength triangle remains solid, except for that “x”.

4

To answer your earlier questions, I hadn’t been using mobile data with this phone, either at home or away.

Before I got it working yesterday, I’d used maybe 2Mb of data during the most recent billing period. By the time I got my Uber Eats order, I’d used about 92Mb of data. So the mobile data was working for a brief, glorious period, when I needed it.

5

@psteckler said:
If I turn off WiFi and mobile data, the signal strength triangle is solid, meaning full strength.

Thank you for the additional detail. Please leave both mobile data and roaming data turned on.

@psteckler said:
If I then turn on mobile data, the “x” appears and, to the left of the strength triangle, the text “4G” appears above “LTE” in smaller letters. The strength triangle remains solid, except for that “x”.

That X has got to go. Regardless of the overall strength of the cell signal, it indicates no cell data.

@psteckler said:
To answer your earlier questions, I hadn’t been using mobile data with this phone, either at home or away.

Before I got it working yesterday, I’d used maybe 2Mb of data during the most recent billing period. By the time I got my Uber Eats order, I’d used about 92Mb of data. So the mobile data was working for a brief, glorious period, when I needed it.

May I confirm if these numbers come from the phone or from signing into RW’s account portal? The rationale for asking you do the latter is to confirm how much cell data RW thinks you have used and how much is left.

In an effort to provide you with something other than questions, I suggest the following:

  1. Reset the phone’s APNs to defaults.
  2. Install DISH’s CarrierApp. CarrierApp has no user interface. It does its thing in the background.
  3. If you’ve already installed CarrierApp, uninstall then reinstall it.
  4. Restart the phone.
  5. Does cell data now work?
6

The 92Mb number came from the phone. I had also looked at the RW site, which says 0.09Gb, agreeing with the phone.

I’ll try your suggestions in a bit.

7

There doesn’t appear to be a way to reset the APNs on my Moto G Stylus, the suggested menu items don’t exist.

I installed the Carrier App, and restarted the phone. I still saw the “x” in the strength meter.

Next, I switched the Access Point Name from “ims” to one of the other choices. The “4G/LTE” icon disappeared. Then, I switched it back to “ims”. Bingo! The “4G/LTE” icon re-appeared, and the data started flowing.

8

I have a Moto g Power 2022 on RW. I manually entered the APN info. The instructions said the “ims” might not show on Moto phones – I don’t see it, even though I entered it.

My APN is on “eReseller”, even though I added “ereseller”.
Not sure which is the right one to be on, but ims is not visible as an option!
My signal at home is weak. It stronger (but not super) if I’m near an ATT store!

My data signal is weak, but most of the time I get texts etc.
I’m still testing out the RW 5.0 plan, so I’ll see…

9

Today, when I was out and about, I needed mobile data again. I saw the dreaded “x” in the strength meter.

I switched the APN back and forth a few times, eventually I got data again. That was pretty annoying, I wish I knew how to make the data connection reliable.

10

psteckler – I was told to uninstall the Carrier app (by RW customer service person), and I manually input the APN info. It was better after that. At home, my signal is low, but so far I get texts and calls.

Scroll down in link below for manually entering APN info, if you should need it.
https://help.republicwireless.com/hc/en-us/articles/4413675019543-Finish-Setting-Up-Your-Phone-s-APN-Settings

11

@NancyM,
This may fall into the category of ‘Care personnel Miss-Information’ … if you continue to get good results, please post back … the Ambassador folks from back when we were Republic Wireless, were afforded a very short period of contact with the developers of the Carrier App. We no longer have the ability to interface with Dish developers or Staff, but have to relie on testing in the real world by folks like you.

12

jBen – activating my new phone on the new 5.0 plan was quite an ordeal. First I was told to d/l the Carrier app, and couldn’t get calls, data, etc. After several calls, one CS person said to uninstall and manually input the APNs, and I was able to do MMS and calls.
If Carrier doesn’t work, it would help if RW/Dish took it off of their activation instructions, but it doesn’t look like their investing in updates or training.

13

I have had very intermittent problems with mobile data since the switch to RW by DISH “Only What You Need” plan for at least the past six months. Through three different handsets: Moto G Power - 2020, Pixel 6, now Pixel 7. Cell signal strength and voice calls, SMS would work, but using DATA would not work, just as if I had used up my entire 1 GB of mobile data - when I had not. Sometimes power cycling the phone would restore data, sometimes turning on Airplane Mode, then turning off Airplane Mode restored data, but other times these tricks didn’t help, or would restore data for only a few minutes.

During multiple appeals to RW support I heard the same supposed troubleshooting steps repeated, which have not fixed the issue. The final straw was when I was told they could not help, my handset was not on their “approved” list, my problem.

So I am looking for a more reliable service provider.

14

Clint
My service with the new Only what you want plan has been OK, mostly. But some days calls are dropped, won’t go through (not even on wifi calling), and people who call me go straight to voicemail.

I restart the phone and that helps sometimes.

Yesterday I couldn’t make or receive calls for quite a while, so I called RW. They started to tell me to download the Carrier app – I had tried that when I got the phone and it didn’t work. I manually input the APN info, but even so, the phone reverts to the old APN eReseller, not ereseller.

But a question — I couldn’t make WiFi calls yesterday. I thought if my cell signal was low but I was on WiFi, I could still make a call. RW said they have nothing to do with that and to call Motorola. Is that true?

15

Hi @NancyM,

Well, not exactly but I understand (up to a point) where support is coming from. Without RW’s proprietary technology, WiFi calling is a function of the phone and underlying mobile network (in your case AT&T). AT&T is not going to help you because you are not their customer. Motorola should try to help but will more likely blame the mobile network.

All of that said, what is the model and (if applicable) generation of your Motorola phone? When and from whom (Republic or third party retailer) was it purchased?

16

Rolandh – I purchased a Moto g Power 2022 from RW/Dish in November.

Wifi and mobile calls have worked probably 95% of the time so far.
My concern is that if the calls don’t go through, what happens if I should have an emergency? I never have so far, but you never know.

I’m considering T-Mobile Connect – the prices are comparable to other MVNOs, but it’s with T-Mobile.

17

Hi @NancyM,

It may be we should split your experience to its own topic. Are you having cell data issues or just WiFi calling issues?

@NancyM said:
I purchased a Moto g Power 2022 from RW/Dish in November.

A 2022 Moto G Power purchased at RW by DISH’s store is supposed to support WiFi calling.

@NancyM said:
Wifi and mobile calls have worked probably 95% of the time so far.

Something working 95% of the time is not the same thing as something not working. Have you set the phone to prefer WiFi calling? It’s not enough to turn WiFi calling on. If not set to do so, the phone will still prefer cellular over WiFi and will, sometimes, insist on attempting to use a weak cellular signal over WiFi for calling.

Speaking of cellular coverage; how is the cellular coverage in your area?

@NancyM said:
My concern is that if the calls don’t go through, what happens if I should have an emergency? I never have so far, but you never know.

By design, all mobile phones will prefer the cellular network for 911 calls (even if the cellular network being used isn’t the one the phone would ordinarily connect to). In other words, if AT&T network coverage (RW 5.0 uses AT&T’s network) is unavailable the phone would use T-Mobile’s Verizon’s or whatever other compatible cellular network was available for the 911 call before using WiFi. This was also true when RW used its proprietary technology. 911 is always cell first.

@NancyM said:
I’m considering T-Mobile Connect – the prices are comparable to other MVNOs, but it’s with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile Connect is competitively priced with MVNOs. It has the advantages of domestic roaming and no data de-prioritization over T-Mobile MVNOs. It has the disadvantage of T-Mobile Prepaid’s support, which, in my experience is awful.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, however, don’t you also have a phone with Tello? Tello uses T-Mobile’s network. If maintaining multiple phones, you may want to consider using different cellular networks for redundancy.

18

@rolandh said:

Something working 95% of the time is not the same thing as something not working. Have you set the phone to prefer WiFi calling? It’s not enough to turn WiFi calling on. If not set to do so, the phone will still prefer cellular over WiFi and will, sometimes, insist on attempting to use a weak cellular signal over WiFi for calling.

Speaking of cellular coverage; how is the cellular coverage in your area?

Glad you mentioned that. I had originally set WiFi preferred, so I went to check after reading your post, and it was back on the default “mobile network preferrred”. WiFi calling worked originally, but somewhere along the way it defaulted back.
Thank you for mentioning that because I didn’t realize the setting could change back from what I selected.

19

@rolandh said:

Please correct me if I’m wrong, however, don’t you also have a phone with Tello? Tello uses T-Mobile’s network. If maintaining multiple phones, you may want to consider using different cellular networks for redundancy.

Yes, I have my 2nd phone on Tello. I don’t use it alot. Sometimes texts are delayed. I was just looking at other options, but I’ll test out my 2nd phone a bit more to see how well it performs.
Thanks!