No signal on rain SIM

TimBru14

TimBru14

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Joined
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Location
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape
Hi

I received my rain SIM card yesterday and got a confirmation email from rain stating that my SIM card was now active. I immediately threw it into my Xiaomi Redmi 3S and configured the APN (Profile name: rain and APN: rain - left everything else default) and restarted the phone only to be greeted with a "Emergency Calls Only" message. Discovering that the Xiaomi doesn't support the 4G band (I believe it's 2600), I moved the SIM into my Samsung Galaxy A50. Tried in SIM slot 2 (alongside my Cell C SIM), set rain as the mobile data SIM, configured APN settings, rebooted. Still get the "Emergency Calls Only" message.
I then thought that perhaps the 2nd SIM slot doesn't support 4G for some odd reason so I swapped it to the SIM slot 1, rebooted, reconfigured APN settings, rebooted again and am still greeted with a "Emergency Calls Only" message in the top left.
I was told that I could manually search for the Rain network in the network selection options menu but the only networks that come up when I try search are TelkomSA-R, RSA Cell C, MTN-SA, Vodacom-SA and TelkomSA. Rain doesn't seem to know how to fix the issue.

I'm going to try another phone later today and a 4G router but does anyone have any other suggestions as to what I could do to get this up and running?

TIA
 
The sim card should have worked in the A50. Just cross check the coverage map and also on the network search it might not identify as rain but 655.. Another thing you could do from your end is just try to do the online Rica for yourself, because the sim might not be activated
 
Maybe you just don't have coverage where you're situated.

It's well known that Rain's coverage map is not entirely accurate..I can vouch.
I'm outside cell edge and yet at one point of my house with B618 pointed toward far away tower 3-4 km along line of sight(even through residential area and trees) I still get a weak signal and 5-10Mbps amazingly...but the opp could also be true.

Hope not for your sake but just giving you the worst case scenario too.
 
@chakniks - I am within coverage both at my work in Umhlanga and my home in Glenwood. I'll see if I can't RICA it online. I remember typing in the number on the SIM on the site and they said it had already been activated.

@NeonNinja - Tried. Just get put on hold indefinitely. Did live chat with 2 different agents and got the same response regarding the APN settings. According to my colleague who got it a few weeks back, it shouldn't be that difficult to set up. Apparently just profile name and APN must be set to "rain".

@MirageF1 - I did think that but a colleague of mine received his about 2 weeks ago and it worked 2 - 3 hours after receiving it in his Huawei P8 lite.

I am speaking to a rain agent currently. Will see if I come right.
 
chakniks said:
Please do a speed test with the A50 if you do not mind
Click to expand...

I've had some very mixed results. If I'm in Umhlanga (around my workplace), I can get max 20 meg down and about 5 meg upload. As soon as I drive in the gate at my office in Umhlanga (not even inside the building yet), I lose all rain signal. At my home in Glenwood, I have signal but a max of 2 meg down and less than 0.5 meg upload (I'm sad to say it but my 4 meg DSL line through Telkom is faster so it doesn't really make financial sense for me to continue with rain). What's confusing to me is that I walk literally 500 metres up the road to a relatives house (still in the Glenwood area) and stand in the 2nd storey of their house and I get solid 20 meg down no matter where I am on the 2nd storey but at my house it's less than half that :(
Rain has definitely disrupted the data market with this offering and I have no doubt that it will only get better but at the moment I can't really recommend it (not in my area anyways). This is however just my use case. Everyone's mileage will vary slightly.
 
Last week had to reboot my device everyday but theg managed to stabilize the netwoek and this morning noticed the network was down again... Another reboot solved the matter.
 
I've found that if I put my phone onto airplane mode and then disable it again, it sometimes picks up a rain signal again but it isn't all that consistent. I understand that unlimited data for 19 hours is great but I was hoping to use this to replace my 2nd phone (with a Telkom SIM card in it) that I have to carry around and hotspot to my main phone because data is cheaper on Telkom but I can't even get signal when I'm at work which means I have to carry my 2nd phone and have to keep paying Telkom for Mo'Nice bundles anyway.
Granted I don't use a metric ton of data. The only thing I need data for on my phone is WhatsApp and then occasional Google Maps or Facebook. At the moment, I can get 1.25 gigs that expires after 7 days for around R20. At that price, I'm paying about R80 a month for basic connectivity with signal that works regardless of where I am. It would make more sense in my use case to either stick with the Mo'Nice bundles or get a data deal from Telkom with 10 odd gigs a month for R100. The only other time I need data is when my ADSL line decides it has had enough and I have to hotspot my phone to my PC in order to finish a DOTA 2 or CS:GO game.
 
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TimBru14 said:
I've found that if I put my phone onto airplane mode and then disable it again, it sometimes picks up a rain signal again but it isn't all that consistent. I understand that unlimited data for 19 hours is great but I was hoping to use this to replace my 2nd phone (with a Telkom SIM card in it) that I have to carry around and hotspot to my main phone because data is cheaper on Telkom but I can't even get signal when I'm at work which means I have to carry my 2nd phone and have to keep paying Telkom for Mo'Nice bundles anyway.
Granted I don't use a metric ton of data. The only thing I need data for on my phone is WhatsApp and then occasional Google Maps or Facebook. At the moment, I can get 1.25 gigs that expires after 7 days for around R20. At that price, I'm paying about R80 a month for basic connectivity with signal that works regardless of where I am. It would make more sense in my use case to either stick with the Mo'Nice bundles or get a data deal from Telkom with 10 odd gigs a month for R100. The only other time I need data is when my ADSL line decides it has had enough and I have to hotspot my phone to my PC in order to finish a DOTA 2 or CS:GO game.
Click to expand...

I've been having the no signal and airplane mode "fix" for the past 3 days. Have you had any success in getting it working?
 
Really depends on where you are. I don't have any rain signal before I have walked into the office in Umhlanga let alone inside the building. I was at Stokers in Kloof the other day and my signal just dropped. Turned airplane mode on and off and then I got a signal for about 15 minutes until I put the phone in my pocket and when I went to grab it again, the signal was gone.
I've had very little success with it. I get 2 meg down at home with the SIM card in my Samsung Galaxy A50. The latency is low enough for me to play online games with decently but if I need to download anything then I have to reconnect my PC to the 4 meg ADSL line simply because the speed on rain where I am is horrendous (had a 60 meg DOTA 2 patch the other day. With the rain SIM, it estimated 30 minutes to download. On the ADSL, it estimated 2 minutes :cautious:).
If the signal was better than I would definitely continue using it but almost anywhere I have gone, I don't get signal. I can't warrant spending R250 a month for this kind of service, unfortunately.
 
TimBru14 said:
Really depends on where you are. I don't have any rain signal before I have walked into the office in Umhlanga let alone inside the building. I was at Stokers in Kloof the other day and my signal just dropped. Turned airplane mode on and off and then I got a signal for about 15 minutes until I put the phone in my pocket and when I went to grab it again, the signal was gone.
I've had very little success with it. I get 2 meg down at home with the SIM card in my Samsung Galaxy A50. The latency is low enough for me to play online games with decently but if I need to download anything then I have to reconnect my PC to the 4 meg ADSL line simply because the speed on rain where I am is horrendous (had a 60 meg DOTA 2 patch the other day. With the rain SIM, it estimated 30 minutes to download. On the ADSL, it estimated 2 minutes :cautious:).
If the signal was better than I would definitely continue using it but almost anywhere I have gone, I don't get signal. I can't warrant spending R250 a month for this kind of service, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
TimBru14 said:
Hi

I received my rain SIM card yesterday and got a confirmation email from rain stating that my SIM card was now active. I immediately threw it into my Xiaomi Redmi 3S and configured the APN (Profile name: rain and APN: rain - left everything else default) and restarted the phone only to be greeted with a "Emergency Calls Only" message. Discovering that the Xiaomi doesn't support the 4G band (I believe it's 2600), I moved the SIM into my Samsung Galaxy A50. Tried in SIM slot 2 (alongside my Cell C SIM), set rain as the mobile data SIM, configured APN settings, rebooted. Still get the "Emergency Calls Only" message.
I then thought that perhaps the 2nd SIM slot doesn't support 4G for some odd reason so I swapped it to the SIM slot 1, rebooted, reconfigured APN settings, rebooted again and am still greeted with a "Emergency Calls Only" message in the top left.
I was told that I could manually search for the Rain network in the network selection options menu but the only networks that come up when I try search are TelkomSA-R, RSA Cell C, MTN-SA, Vodacom-SA and TelkomSA. Rain doesn't seem to know how to fix the issue.

I'm going to try another phone later today and a 4G router but does anyone have any other suggestions as to what I could do to get this up and running?

TIA
Click to expand...
 
Hi TimBru14. I also have a Redmi 3s phone and am thinking of getting Rain. Did you manage to get it to work in the Redmi 3s phone as well? Kind Regards, Moira
 
Moirak said:
Hi TimBru14. I also have a Redmi 3s phone and am thinking of getting Rain. Did you manage to get it to work in the Redmi 3s phone as well? Kind Regards, Moira
Click to expand...

To be honest, I don't remember. I cancelled my Rain SIM card because the signal at my home in Glenwood was horrible. Ended up going with an MTN contract. I am also no longer using the Redmi 3S (my Samsung Galaxy A50 has a dual SIM slot so I can use my personal Cell C SIM card and the new MTN SIM card in the same device).

There's no harm in trying a Rain SIM as you can cancel it anytime. Just note that it might not work as soon as you receive it (may need to wait max 24 hours before the SIM becomes active).
 
TimBru14 said:
To be honest, I don't remember. I cancelled my Rain SIM card because the signal at my home in Glenwood was horrible. Ended up going with an MTN contract. I am also no longer using the Redmi 3S (my Samsung Galaxy A50 has a dual SIM slot so I can use my personal Cell C SIM card and the new MTN SIM card in the same device).

There's no harm in trying a Rain SIM as you can cancel it anytime. Just note that it might not work as soon as you receive it (may need to wait max 24 hours before the SIM becomes active).
Click to expand...
Ive been waiting more than 24hrs still no service
 
Hlomla7677243 said:
Ive been waiting more than 24hrs still no service
Click to expand...

Double check that the SIM is visible when you sign in to your account on the Rain portal. Also make sure your APN settings are set to rain.
If all else fails, phone them and ask them to check if there's something wrong on their end. I know when I got my SIM it didn't work at my office in Umhlanga but as soon as I hit the freeway to Durban CBD it grabbed a signal.
 
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