nokia lumia 521 will does not have service inside my house. i have internet, help

[adyson]

I purchased the nokia lumia 521. Although I have internet in my house, my phone has no service inside the house. Can someone help with this problem? Thank you.

 

[Muessig]

Are you talking about mobile data connection or WiFi? If you mean mobile data this is really something you need to talk to your service provider about.

Also, welcome to the WPCentral Forums!

 

[adyson]

thank you! i have att home internet

 

[Corepc]

Is AT&T you phone provider if so, then is your 521 unlocked, if not then you need to get it unlocked.

Or think about returning the 521 and getting a AT&T 520 instead.

If T-Mobile is your provider then turn on WiFi Calling and set to Wifi Preferred.

 

[rkin92]

This is going to sound stupid... but do you have a brick house? I've noticed my signal is shotty in brick buildings , and underground, but honestly underground most networks are meh.

However... My Nokia 700 used to drop signal when it had 3-4 full bars. I kid you not. right in my house, or randomly when It thought it was convenient. To fixi it, i had to disable all wireless radios , renable them or restart the phone. A major problem.

I haven't had that issue with the 521, and i give Nokia a big thumbs up for it. The only real gripe I have with signal is that data doesnt work with 2G. Come on, i know its slow but not working at all? Hell, sometimes when I have only 2G i cant send texts.

I do admit, in Chicag0, T-Mobile isnt the best compared to VZW, but I have a feeling that is because of the CDMA vs GSM limitations.

 

[SlantNGo]

The only real gripe I have with signal is that data doesnt work with 2G. Come on, i know its slow but not working at all? Hell, sometimes when I have only 2G i cant send texts.

Are you with T-Mobile or an MVNO? I'm with PTel, a T-Mobile MVNO, and data didn't work for me with 2G either until I changed the APN settings. It was weird because I could get data on 4G with the default APN settings, but had to change APN to get data on both 4G and 2G.

 

[rkin92]

i switched from Ptel to T-Mobile. I decided the customer service justified the extra 10 dollars a month /

Let me look in my APN settings.

Edit: How do i find the apn settings

 

[Corepc]

Edit: How do i find the apn settings

Check System->Cellular->Make Sure Network is either Automatic or T-Mobile
System->Access Point will give you apn but you can't edit or view it. You should not need to add T-Mobile apn should have already picked it up once you changed the sim out. But if you do then let us know.

 

[rkin92]

I see the APN in there, im on 2G atm but I have no connection. Even with downloading pictures, I cant do that. Yes, I expect 2G to be slow but honestly I dont understand why It wont work at all. And its draining my batter fast.

 

[rkin92]

Something else I noticed- in a building with no signal, connected to WiFi and noticed that I some how got 4 bars of service and I can text. Calling is WiFi only too. I thought mobile only had calling over WiFi, not texting. Odd

 

[calfee20]

Talk and text works over Wi-Fi but you can not receive photos in text files over Wi-Fi. I have to turn off Wi-Fi to download photos.

 

[WeAreNotAlone]

I purchased the nokia lumia 521. Although I have internet in my house, my phone has no service inside the house. Can someone help with this problem? Thank you.

You're not giving much info to work with, your 2nd post states you have AT&T internet.

Regarding NO SERVICE inside a structure, how can we address that:

Option 1: Is by configuring the phone to use what is called "Wfi-Fi Calling". Basically your phone talks (connects) to your Wi-fi router and calls are routed over the internet. If you have cable or DSL / AT&T Uverse this is fine. If you have a satellite setup, due to the high latency of satellite on average 700ms, vs 10-30-60ms for Cable/DSL/Uverse it will be like trying to setup a VOIP phone.... you aren't going to be happy with the lag.

Downside of using WiFi calling, on most plans it uses your minutes (Which I think is BS as Carriers don't have to add /update tower, their network as calls are routed over the CUSTOMERS internet connection.)
Battery life affected.

Option 2: Is by obtaining what is called a "Cell-Fi signal booster" (Google with that search term)
Cell Phone Signal Booster - Plug-And-Play, Guaranteed to Work - Cel-Fi

You can buy one, Or get one from T-Mo free.
The trick to getting one free thru T-Mo being:
A: You have to spend xyz amount with them per month, have phone of data devices (hotspots) that have data plan @ a min of xyz per month.
B: Most likely a post paid account is required.
C: While there is no charge per month- you pay a one time shipping fee of $6.95.
D: Unit remains property of T-Mo.
E: They might (or be required to) upon the date you "add" the device that they extend the length of your contract (On all lines!) Due to this I would seriously consider "buying" a unit!
F : You must have some spot in your home (Window) in which you get a strong (DATA - 3g) signal.
(What this device does is a "Antenna" (Really a transceiver) is placed in a spot that receives a signal... and then it relays the signal to a receiver say 30ft way creating a "Bubble" of service within the two devices. If you are within the "bubble" your phone interacts (talks with) the two devices and data /voice/calls is transmitted to the antenna /transceiver... which talks to the Cell tower.)

Note that if you are in a area with ZERO signal outside your home, or cannot find a suitable location to place the window unit you are out of luck. This said if you GOOGLE around you may be able to find such a unit that has a capability to add a "External antenna" if you "do" have a signal outside your home, but no windows on that side of the structure.

PROS:
Helps signal (duh)
Greatly extends battery life (Both in standby and while talking if you don't have the device)

CONS: Uses electricity, one more thing to add to risk of FIRE.
T-Mo might try to extend contract.

 

[Eric J F]

T-Mobile (USA) recently told me they no longer offer signal boosters; WiFi Calling is the replacement. We have a similar situation with poor in-house reception. They've been working on 'our' tower the last two days but if that doesn't help the only other alternative is AT&T.

 

[jaceot]

I am glad I got mine when I did, that sucks. At the time, they made me renew my contract to get that signal booster. Later, when they went uncarrier, I bought out my contract. Signal booster helps but placement in my house has been real tricky. I think I finally found a good spot.

I don't know if it works, but did you threaten to leave? I had to escalate and escalate when I got this thing.

 

[Eric J F]

I didn't take it that far, mainly because I don't use my HTC 8X as a phone very much and we have the WiFi Calling on the Lumia if we really need it. So I'm sorta on the fence...