How to fix LTE connection not working issue on Galaxy S9

CDMA phones may sometimes encounter LTE connection problems. In this post, we address another common problem for the CDMA Galaxy S9 (#Galaxy S9). The problem is about LTE connection stopping for no apparent reason. Learn how to deal with this problem below.

Problem: How to fix LTE connection not working issue on Galaxy S9

No LTE connection since monday jan 28th 2019, it worked fine in the morning, then in the afternoon, the LTE disappeared off my phone and reverted to 3G, and hasn’t changed back since. Spoke with boost mobile (my carrier), sprint, and samsung , and the reps i spoke to all said that it could be an issue with the network on my phone.

So i checked the APN setting on my galaxy , and because they are greyed out, i can’t edit them. only boost mobile can it seems like, but they haven’t helped me get it to where i can access the APN’s on my phone.

So with that being said, i believe that LTE has been either disabled completely on my device, or something happened with one of samsung’s updates.

its like my phone deleted the files for LTE or something, but the LTE APN is still on my phone. i honestly don’t know what to do.

Solution: There is no direct way to know what is causing this problem. Below are the steps you must do to identify the reason for the problem.

Verify LTE network is up

Before you perform any troubleshooting on your device, the very first thing that you can do is to ensure that everything is good on the network side. This means checking whether there’s any LTE network outage in your area, or if there’s any possibility of an account or billing problem that may affect your service. At this stage, you should work closely with your carrier to get the facts. If necessary, try not to take the word of the first agent you talk to. You can escalate your concern further up the chain by talking to a supervisor or manager. That way, you can be advised by at least two people who have different level of expertise. In most cases, customer-facing agents on the phone may not have real-time updates regarding on-going network outages. Talking the next level of support may be aware of recent outages though. If you’ve been assured by at least two people from your carrier that there’s no LTE network problems in your area, then that’s the time that you check it for your yourself.

If you have another known working and compatible phone from the same carrier, insert your SIM card to it and see if it detects LTE network as working.

Force restart

If you are absolutely positive that LTE service is working where you’re at, but not on your Galaxy S9, then the next thing to do is to focus your troubleshooting on the device itself. Start by making sure you simulate a “battery pull” procedure. This is often helpful in fixing temporary bugs. If you haven’t tried this one yet, here are the steps that you can do:

Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Allow several seconds for the Maintenance Boot Mode screen to appear.
From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Normal Boot. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the lower left button (below the volume buttons) to select. Wait for up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.

Reseat the SIM

CDMA phones use a SIM card but not in a way that GSM phones do. While GSM devices store subscriber data in the card itself as well as connect to the network with the aid of a SIM, CDMA devices like the ones from your carrier (and most probably your phone too) only uses the SIM solely to use LTE connection. Your device stores subscriber information deep within the system. Even without the SIM card, you should still be able to continue using the basic network services with generally no problem. However, LTE connection which is obviously faster and better compared to 2G and 3G won’t be available. The loss of LTE connectivity on your device can thus be due to a problem with the SIM card. It may not be properly connected in the slot so the first thing to do about it is to remove it from the device. Be sure to turn the phone off before you do this step. After a few seconds, reinsert the SIM again (while phone is off).

Replace the SIM

If reseating the SIM card won’t help, you also have the option to replace it. We suggest though that you try using another SIM card first, (if you know someone with one) before buying a replacement. Yes, SIM cards can get damaged too so be sure not to skip this solution.

Reset network settings

If the problem is not the SIM card so far, it’s possible that there may be a bug in your phone’s network configuration. Try to follow the steps below to clear the network settings on your S9. Doing this step will clear all cellular, wifi, and bluetooth settings.

When it’s done, the following changes will occur by performing a reset of network settings.

Stored Wi-Fi networks will be deleted.
Paired Bluetooth devices will be deleted.
Background data sync settings will be turned on.
Data restrictive settings in applications that were manually turned on/off by the customer will be reset to the default setting.
Network selection mode will be set to automatic.

To clear network settings:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > General Management > Reset > Reset network settings.
Tap RESET SETTINGS.
If you have set up a PIN, enter it.
Tap RESET SETTINGS. Once complete, a confirmation window will appear.

Clear system cache

Wiping your phone’s system cache may help in fixing this problem. Sometimes, updates or app installation may corrupt the system cache, which can then lead to problems. To ensure that the system cache is working fine on your device, follow the steps below:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power button.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Safe Mode

In some instances, a bad third party app may interfere with Android and cause problems. If your LTE connection started to act up after installing an app, try to delete that app and see what happens. If you can’t figure out which app may be the potential source of bug, you can restart the phone to safe mode. Once your phone runs on safe mode, all third party apps will be blocked. If LTE starts working again on this mode, you can bet an app is behind it. Follow the steps below to boot the device to safe mode:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

Remember, safe mode blocks third party apps. If LTE connections starts working after restarting your S9 to safe mode, the next thing to do is to identify the culprit. You can do that by removing apps one by one and observing the phone after you delete an app. There’s no shortcut to achieve the result you want so this can take time if you have a lot of apps to work with. These are the specific steps that you can do:

Boot to safe mode.
Check for the problem.
Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
If your S9 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.

Factory reset

Reverting your phone to its defaults is an inevitable solution should none of the steps above help. Be sure to back your personal data up first to avoid losing files. Once you’ve done that, follow the steps below to factory reset your S9:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Contact carrier

There are some network problems that are beyond a user’s ability to fix. If nothing changes and LTE connection is still down at this stage, work with your carrier to figure out the reason for the problem.