"Emergency Calls Only" on one phone but not another

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › "Emergency Calls Only" on one phone but not another

jamesrt

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#280005 21-Nov-2020 21:42

Hi all,

My wife and I were in the Wairarapa today, over by the coast, when there was a power cut.

After a while, I noticed that my personal cellphone (Skinny SIM) had no signal; my work phone (Vodafone) was ok. So, I'm assuming there was an issue with the local Spark cell due to the powercut.

However, I noticed that my wife's phone (also Skinny SIM) said "Emergency Calls Only" - so presumably had connected to the working Vodafone service to enable emergency calls. Which is what I understand is allowed and happens.

The question is why did her phone enable emergency calls, and mine not? Surely that's an important thing that should work....

(Both Android Phones, both NZ purchased as "Spark" phones, different makes/models).

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Max
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#2608143 21-Nov-2020 22:02

What phone models are you working with?

Are you also only restricting to 4G instead of 4G/3G/2G?

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

K8Toledo

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#2608146 21-Nov-2020 22:22

Doesn't "Emergency Calls Only" mean the sim is out of credit?

jamesrt

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#2608150 21-Nov-2020 22:57

MaxineN:
What phone models are you working with?

Are you also only restricting to 4G instead of 4G/3G/2G?

Samsung A-series [which allowed emergency calls], and Nokia 7.2 didn't.

Neither phone restricted; my Nokia isn't provisioned for VoLTE on Spark yet; so certainly isn't locked to 4G. VoLTE works on Vodafone on my handset.

freitasm

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#2608158 21-Nov-2020 23:44

K8Toledo:

Doesn't "Emergency Calls Only" mean the sim is out of credit?

Not at all.

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Jase2985

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#2608210 22-Nov-2020 05:51

K8Toledo:

Doesn't "Emergency Calls Only" mean the sim is out of credit?

in this case its likely lost its home network and has "emergency calling" available on either Vodafone or 2degrees.

gajan

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#2608216 22-Nov-2020 07:15

If you share a rough location - as band support may come into play, I can check with our device team that it should have worked or not - with those devices or not.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

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Linux

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#2608221 22-Nov-2020 07:44

K8Toledo:

Doesn't "Emergency Calls Only" mean the sim is out of credit?

@K8Toledo Definitely not

jamesrt

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#2608226 22-Nov-2020 08:27

gajan: If you share a rough location - as band support may come into play, I can check with our device team that it should have worked or not - with those devices or not.

Riversdale Beach.

I'm almost certain I've had the Nokia working here last Christmas with a Vodafone Sim at the time; which doesn't mean that nothing's changed since then, of course!

BlinkyBill

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#2608272 22-Nov-2020 08:32

If you could make normal calls via Vodafone, then you can also make emergency calls?

gajan

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#2608287 22-Nov-2020 08:55

jamesrt:
gajan: If you share a rough location - as band support may come into play, I can check with our device team that it should have worked or not - with those devices or not.

Riversdale Beach.

I'm almost certain I've had the Nokia working here last Christmas with a Vodafone Sim at the time; which doesn't mean that nothing's changed since then, of course!

Thanks - I’ll look into it tomorrow and check with the device team etc.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

jamesrt

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#2608291 22-Nov-2020 09:05

BlinkyBill:
If you could make normal calls via Vodafone, then you can also make emergency calls?

Yes; but I had multiple phones. Maybe other people with only a Skinny phone couldn't.

To summarise again:

During power cut [after a while]:

Nokia 7.2 = Skinny currently, no 'emergency' fallback.
Samsung A30 = Skinny, 'emergency calls' allowed.

Another Samsung A70 on Vodafone was fine.

--

Nokia 7.2 had Vodafone SIM over Christmas/New Year last year and worked in same location; assumption is that it can use Vodafone frequencies.

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jamesrt

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#2608308 22-Nov-2020 10:25

gajan: Thanks - I’ll look into it tomorrow and check with the device team etc.

Much appreciated, thanks!

jamesrt

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#2612598 29-Nov-2020 11:25

@gajan; did you manage to find out anything regarding this?

gajan

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#2612617 29-Nov-2020 11:44

Not yet - thanks for the reminder - have sent an email to them team to check it out (we’ll probably need to go for a field test...). Will let you know what I find out.

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gajan

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#2614795 2-Dec-2020 14:57

Update - so with our testing we have been able to confirm that the Nokia7.2 does indeed go into "Emergency Calls Only", and that indeed an emergency call is possible (with both a Spark and Skinny SIM) in the device. This was running the latest commercial release....

I was told however that from time to time devices may display "No Service", however attempting to place a emergency call does trigger the device to actually attempt the call etc.

My comments and remarks are not necessarily of my employer.

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