The issue in detail
My mobile contract with BT ended 11 days ago. I decided to go with Lebara for my new provider. My phone -- a Motorola G7 Power -- had been locked by BT so that only SIM cards from them would work with it. However, they sent me a code to unlock it. 11 days ago, on the 2nd of July, I removed the BT SIM card and replaced it with a Lebara SIM card and unlocked the phone.
It was only 2 days ago that I have attempted to make a phone call to someone -- namely my elderly parents (to remind them the Euros 2020 final was on since England were playing). But, although I could hear them fine (I could hear they had the match on in the background), they couldn't hear me at all, that is they heard complete silence. So I experimented with a voice recorder app and recorded my voice. My microphone is not entirely unfunctional as I can just to say hear my voice if I press the phone against my ear. But, my microphone's sensitivity has utterly plummeted. I also tried to record a video. My voice there too is extremely faint.
I rebooted my phone into safe mode. Voila! When I record videos in safe mode my voice comes out as normal. However, mysteriously, when I rang my parents whilst still in safe mode, I have the exact same problem. Namely, I can hear them clearly, but they cannot make out my voice at all.
OK, so at that point I thought a factory reset should sort the problem out. I did three factory resets in total. Even before adding my google account or any other apps, the google voice search only picks up my voice if I speak very loudly and close to the phone. It would not pick up my voice when I spoke at a normal volume. Nor did the voice recorder work after I added it. But it did seem to cure the problem with recording videos. So now I could get audio on the videos I recorded without being in safe mode. However, later on, after adding my google account, which therefore added all my previous apps, the same problem with recording videos re-appeared i.e the sound is virtually non-existent. Again, going into safe mode resolves this specific problem with recording videos, but not the problem when I use my microphone for phone calls.
The problem in a nutshell
I'm not sure if the above is confusing, so let me summarise the salient points.
1. There cannot be a physical problem with my phone's microphone since I can get the microphone to work normally, specifically if I record videos in safe mode. So that entails a software problem of some type.
2. But, if it's a software problem, why wouldn't hard resets resolve it? It cannot therefore be any apps I've added. And pre-installed apps won't cause problems.
So it follows that it necessarily is a software problem of some nature, either elicited by unlocking my phone, or something the Lebara SIM card has done.
But, I confess, I know next to nothing about mobiles. I scarcely use my mobile at all, so the average person should know much more than me. And certainly, Motorola Support should be able to suggest what the problem must be, right?
Nope, not at all. I more or less repeated to the Motorola tech support guy what I said under "the issue in detail". He first of all suggested a hard reset, then when I pointed out I had done so three times, he said it must be a physical problem with my microphone and to send it in for repair. He also suggested it might be a network problem with the Lebara card.
So I mentioned 1 and 2 above. And I also pointed out that it can't be a Network problem as this would not be consistent with the voice recorder app etc not working. And the Motorola tech guy simply agreed with me that it is very puzzling. For some reason, he refused to address the question of whether unlocking a phone or adding a SIM card could somehow cause a problem, even though I repeated the question about three times.
1. There cannot be a physical problem with my phone's microphone since I can get the microphone to work normally, specifically if I record videos in safe mode. So that entails a software problem of some type.
2. But, if it's a software problem, why wouldn't hard resets resolve it? It cannot therefore be any apps I've added. And pre-installed apps won't cause problems.
So it follows that it necessarily is a software problem of some nature, either elicited by unlocking my phone, or something the Lebara SIM card has done.
But, I confess, I know next to nothing about mobiles. I scarcely use my mobile at all, so the average person should know much more than me. And certainly, Motorola Support should be able to suggest what the problem must be, right?
Nope, not at all. I more or less repeated to the Motorola tech support guy what I said under "the issue in detail". He first of all suggested a hard reset, then when I pointed out I had done so three times, he said it must be a physical problem with my microphone and to send it in for repair. He also suggested it might be a network problem with the Lebara card.
So I mentioned 1 and 2 above. And I also pointed out that it can't be a Network problem as this would not be consistent with the voice recorder app etc not working. And the Motorola tech guy simply agreed with me that it is very puzzling. For some reason, he refused to address the question of whether unlocking a phone or adding a SIM card could somehow cause a problem, even though I repeated the question about three times.
Anyway, I just cancelled my Lebara contract since there's no point in having one since I only want a contract to make phone calls. I have just ordered a talkmobile SIM and see if that works. Doubt it though, in which case I'll cancel that too during the "cooling off" period.
I can only think unlocking my phone has somehow compromised the functioning of my phone. Has anyone else experienced any such deleterious consequences when unlocking their phones? If so, please feel free to respond in the comments.
So if this talkmobile SIM card fails to work, I think I'll need to buy a new phone (I think sending it off to be repaired is not financially viable). This is annoying, I've only just paid for my phone! One thing's for sure, I will be diligently avoiding locked phones in future! (I only heard about phones being locked a few weeks ago. I'd heard about jail breaking your phone, but never knew what people were talking about).
I'll update this post when my new SIM card arrives.
14/07/2021 Update (next day).
I received my talkmobile SIM. It's made no difference. I have found a thread on the net with people having a similar problem with Motorola phones (the G5 and maybe other models, mine's the G7 power). Most significantly, someone says:
What's /really/ weird is that the camera Video RECORDS audio just fine. However, a voice recording app, and all phone calls have the MIC not working, even after a complete factory reset and numerous OS updates (even 7->8.1). So, it's not a mic problem, just a mic symptom. (Maybe stereo/mono encoding?
Oh wow! Very very similar to my own situation. OK, my video recordings don't work either, unlike this guy's. But! I can get them to record audio at the normal level when recording videos by either:
b) Immediately after a factory reset, that is before installing my standard apps.
c) Disabling Googles permission to use my mic. (got that from the thread, although it was supposed to be a total solution).
But, similar to that guy, the mic doesn't work for anything else. Not for calls, not for the voice recorder app. Which I thought was very weird indeed and incomprehensible. But it's happened to someone else. So a different Moto model, but similar problem. Too similar to be anything else but the same underlying problem. And this thread is 2.5 years old and the same problem has now occurred with me and with a different Motorola model!
So it's definitely a software problem. Perhaps, after unlocking, the software updated itself? (again, I'm very ignorant of mobiles!)
OK, not sure what to do now. I feel it's ludicrous to have to buy a new phone for a software problem that's lingered on for years! One thing is for sure. Whether I buy a phone now, or I can sort this out, I won't be buying a Motorola again.
27/12/2023 Update I have finally fixed it. I stuck a cocktail stick into the microphone hole, and wriggled it about. Now the microphone appears to be working.
So how come my microphone sometimes worked for video recordings? Um.. the video recording mode significantly boosts the sensitivity of the microphone, or something? But anyway, I was convinced there was no physical problem with the microphone, and it transpires I was wrong. I was wrong to blame BT and the unlocking procedure, and I was also wrong to blame Motorola. Sorry!
So how come my microphone sometimes worked for video recordings? Um.. the video recording mode significantly boosts the sensitivity of the microphone, or something? But anyway, I was convinced there was no physical problem with the microphone, and it transpires I was wrong. I was wrong to blame BT and the unlocking procedure, and I was also wrong to blame Motorola. Sorry!
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