How to fix a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus that cannot make or receive phone calls (easy steps)

Network functions and connectivity features of your phone can be interfered by many different factors. And when this happens, network-related issues begin to manifest. Among the most prevalent symptoms of network errors would include calling and texting errors. Addressed in this post is a pertinent issue transpiring on the new Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus. Read on to learn what options you can try on whenever you’ll encounter an issue in which you cannot make or receive phone calls on the same device.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy S9 Plus troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

How to fix your Galaxy S9 Plus that can’t make / receive phone calls

Before you troubleshoot software problems on your Samsung S9 Plus that might have caused you such a problem in making or receiving phone calls, consider these few suggestions:

• If you cannot receive phone calls only from one specific contact, check your auto-reject list and make sure that the contact number you’re having trouble with is not in the list.
• Power off your phone and then remove the SIM card. Carefully check the SIM card to see if there are any visible signs of damage like scratches. If the SIM card is damaged, then you will need a replacement SIM card. Contact your carrier for that matter.

If the problem continues after you’ve done the aforementioned suggestions, then continue to troubleshoot the problem with the following solutions. Don’t forget to do a test call after completing each method to find out whether or not the problem is fixed. Proceed to the next applicable solution if needed.

First solution: Reboot your phone.

Minor software glitches and errors can easily be dealt with by a device restart or soft reset. It’s been the simplest and most effective solutions to random software issues among various types of electronic devices including smartphones. So if you haven’t already, follow these steps to soft reset or reboot your Samsung S9 Plus:

1. Press and hold the Power button.
2. Tap the option to Power off.
3. Tap Power off again to confirm.
4. After about 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button again until your phone boots up.

This does not affect any of your phone data so there’s no need to create a backup beforehand.

Second solution: Boot into safe mode and do some test calls.

To rule third-party apps from the possible culprits, try booting your phone into safe mode and do some test calls. Al third-party apps and services are bypassed or temporarily disabled in this mode, thus it would be easier for you to determine if it’s due to a third-party app or not. Here’s how to enable safe mode on your Samsung S9 Plus:

1. Turn off your phone.
2. Press and hold the Power button past the model name screen.
3. Then release the Power button when the Samsung logo appears.
4. Immediately after you release the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down button.
5. Keep holding the Volume Down button until the phone completes the restart.
6. When it boots up, a Safe Mode badge should appear at the bottom left corner of the screen. At this point, you can release the Volume Down button already.

Do some test calls while your phone is running on safe mode and see if you can make and receive calls. If your phone is able to make and receive phone calls in Safe mode, it denotes that there may be some third party apps interfering with the network functions or connection of your phone. In that case, you will need to deal with apps problem. Try to think of which app you’ve downloaded recently as it’s likely causing you this trouble. You have to uninstall the bad app so as to fix calling issues on your Samsung S9 Plus. Or you can also try to disable any apps you have installed on your phone that may have features for blocking or rejecting calls.

Third solution: Remove/uninstall bad apps.

If your phone is able to make and receive phone calls in safe mode, then it denotes that the problem is caused by a third-party app. In this case, you can uninstall any suspicious apps, probably the recent apps you’ve downloaded on your phone. Here’s how:

1. Swipe up on an empty space from the Home screen to open the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Then tap Apps.
4. Select the app you want to uninstall.
5. Tap Uninstall.
6. Then tap OK to confirm action.

Reboot your device after making these changes then try to do some test calls to see if that fixes the problem. If not, then move on to the next solution.

Fourth solution: Reset network settings.

Invalid network configurations or incorrect network options are likewise among the possible reasons as to why you won’t be able to make or receive phone calls. If you just made some changes to your network settings and then suddenly you bump into this problem, then most probably you’ve configured your network settings wrongly. Try reverting the changes you’ve made back to the previous configuration and then see if that fixes the problem. But if you cannot figure out which options or values to change, then just go for a network settings reset instead. Here’s how:

1. Swipe up on an empty spot from the Home screen to open the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap General Management.
4. Scroll to and tap Reset.
5. Select the option to Reset network settings. This will erase all your current network settings and restores the default values.
6. Tap Reset Settings.
7. If prompted, enter your device PIN or password.
8. Tap Reset Settings again to confirm action.

Your phone reboots automatically when the reset is finished so wait until it boots up completely then set up your networks including Wi-Fi and cellular data to use network services on your device as you normally do.

Fifth solution: Backup and reset your Samsung S9 Plus.

Your last option if all else failed to fix the problem is a factory data reset. This can be the key to fixing the problem especially if it’s due to some complex bugs or major system errors that can only be rectified by a full system reset. However, you will lose data and personal information in the process. If you think it’s worth a shot, then back up all your important data then go for a full system reset with the following steps:

1. Swipe up on an empty spot from the Home screen to open the Apps screen.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap General management.
4. Tap Reset.
5. Select the Factory data reset option.
6. Scroll to the bottom of the screen then tap Reset.
7. Select the option to DELETE ALL.
8. If prompted, enter your credentials for screen lock and Samsung account verification.
9. Tap Confirm to continue.
10. Wait for the reset to finish and your device to reboot.

Alternatively, you can perform a factory data reset on your Samsung S9 Plus via Android recovery mode. If necessary, you can refer to a more comprehensive walkthrough on how to reset and restore your Samsung S9 Plus in recovery mode from our Tutorials page.

Ask further assistance

You can always reach out to your carrier and escalate the problem if you’ve already exhausted all possible means to fix it on your end but to no avail. There might be some other reasons why your Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is still unable to make or receive phone calls up to this point. Verify and ensure that it has nothing to do with account-related issues or network issues like ongoing outages that might have caused relevant services to become unavailable momentarily. Meanwhile if you started to have trouble making or receiving phone calls after updating your Samsung S9 Plus software, then most likely it’s a post-update bug that would require a fix patch. In this case, you may opt to contact Samsung Support for official recommendations.

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