Google’s Android update from December significantly worsens cellular reception on some smartphones from its own Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro series, as those affected report in various forums, for example in the Google Bugtracker. According to the current state of knowledge, older pixel models or smartphones from other manufacturers are not affected.
Google has confirmed the error on reddit and no longer delivers the update for automatic OTA installation (over the air); Our test device was not offered it either. The December updates are still available on the firmware page for manual flashing.
Those affected report that their smartphone has significantly poorer cellular reception after the update than before: the cell phone shows fewer reception bars, transmits data more slowly and sometimes even breaks off phone calls and data connections, if they come about at all. Users in Europe and Canada, regardless of the provider, are particularly affected.
Attempted remedies
Some Pixel 6 users are helping to participate in the beta program of the Google app “Carrier Services” and thus get the latest version of this preinstalled app.
Some users suspect that Google inadvertently delivered firmware that did not match the national carriers; the international unlocked version A1 (SQ1D.211205.016.A1) and the EMEA carrier version A4 (SQ1D.211205.016.A4) may have been swapped. However, users with A4 also report problems in Europe.
As a remedy, some users supposedly switch off 5G. Others report that they simply stopped the pre-installed Carrier Service app and cleared their cache. Still others would have helped install the beta version of this app. To do this, you have to call up the app information for “Carrier Service” in the Google Play Store and tap on “Participate” below under “Register for the beta program”; the beta version is then usually downloaded and installed after waiting a few minutes. However, some users also report that none of these tricks raise cell phone reception to the old level.
Remedy under data loss
The reception strength of our editorial pixel remained equally good after the December update.
If you want to spend more time sending Christmas and New Year’s Eve wishes, you have two further options: The November firmware update, which is not affected by the error, is also available for download on Google’s firmware page. However, the installation deletes all installed apps and configurations and requires an unlocked bootloader. The second option also requires that the bootloader is unlocked: You download the November update, fiddle out the “radio.img” file and only install this via the bootloader; For example, this is recommended on android-hilfe.de. We haven’t tried whether this goes hand in hand with data loss; If you have not already unlocked your bootloader, you will certainly lose apps and configurations, because unlocking does a wipe, i.e. a reset to factory settings.
The solutions suggest that the bug is in the provider settings or the modem firmware. It is unclear whether only individual Pixel 6 / Pro are affected or whether all devices are affected, but perhaps a questionable constellation of provider hardware and firmware only rarely occurs. After the manual update to the A4, our Pixel 6 in the editorial office showed the same reception strength as before. A solution should be offered by Google in the next Pixel update in January.
(yow)