A21 wi-fi service connectivity issue

[heticu7]

Hello.

I live in my RV full time and recently moved to a park in a cell service dead zone; no towers in range. The park owners have supplied wi-fi via Starlink and I learned how to use wi-fi to connect to my Verizon service while in the park so I can send/receive phone calls and text.

The first time I set it up I discovered that I had to reboot the phone in order to get it to get it to find Verizon. It stayed connected until the first time I drove to town (32 miles away) and it switched to cell service automatically. The problem is, it did not reacquire the Verizon connection again via wi-fi when I came back home. After some fussing with it, I learned that I had to reboot the phone again.

This has been going on for 5 months. Whenever I go to town and drive through a cell coverage area, the phone switches to cell service, but does not reconnect to Verizon via wi-fi when I get back home; unless I reboot the phone. Or, if the satellites move around and the Starlink loses connectivity for a bit, then I have to reboot the phone again to get it to reacquire Verizon. It reconnects to the wi-fi signal with no problem, but does not reconnect to Verizon. This forced rebooting has become really old.

I talked to the park owners and they both have iPhones, and have never had to reboot their phones to get Verizon (they use the same carrier). I am now considering replacing the A21 with an iPhone, especially since Verizon keeps pestering me to upgrade my phone for free (so I will no doubt sign another contract). I would rather not because the A21 works perfectly fine other than this issue.

So I joined this forum, and have posted this, in the hopes that someone else has had to deal with this stubbornness and can provide some info, tricks, or fixes to resolve this issue. Or, perhaps someone has experience with another Samsung model that does not have this issue. Maybe it's inherent to the A21 only?

Thanks!

 

[olbriar]

In your setting > wi-fi > your park router or hotspot you should see an option to Auto Reconnect once you've established a connection. The phone should then save the settings and use them once you are withing range. I hope this helps.

 

[heticu7]

In your setting > wi-fi > your park router or hotspot you should see an option to Auto Reconnect once you've established a connection. The phone should then save the settings and use them once you are withing range. I hope this helps.

Thanks, but that is not the issue. As I said in my OP, the phone always reconnects to the wi-fi. The auto-reconnect has been set since day one. What it does NOT do is reconnect my SIM to Verizon over the wi-fi, unless I reboot. The phone says it is connected to wi-fi, but it also says it's "searching for carrier service". IOW, it's not remembering that it's supposed to be using wi-fi to find the carrier service. And, while being connected to wi-fi, if I try to call someone, I get a message that says: "You are not connected to any carrier service".

 

[AugieTN]

Strange the Starlink is saying that. No other WiFi service I know of does

 

[heticu7]

Strange the Starlink is saying that. No other WiFi service I know of does

The Starlink is not saying anything. The A21 phone is saying it can't find carrier service, unless I reboot the phone. Then it finds it immediately. Same wi-fi signal from the Starlink, but it needs to reboot in order to go out and find the carrier service. The Starlink is not doing anything different.

It's going to take someone who has actually had this problem to understand what I am describing. But thanks for your input.

 

[heticu7]

Thanks for your input, but this thread is no longer necessary. I posted this on the steam forum also and got some relevant info that helped me to decide on a phone upgrade. Thanks again.