Taking too long to search for a signal
When it comes to massive user platforms, development pipelines are crucial to making sure you’ve got features going out the way you want them to without the cruft and pain of mistakes and bugs that just appear out of nowhere. To this point, Android 13 QPR1 has been in beta for more than two months and through three iterations and it looks like testers have surfaced a problem that will need addressing before the update goes out to all Pixel users next month.
An initial report was filed with Google’s Issue Tracker on October 27 (via Reddit) where the user says they routinely park in an underground garage where cell signals can’t reach. Once they emerge above ground, they find that their Pixel 7, which is on QPR1 Beta 3, doesn’t reconnect to their Verizon service unless they toggle Airplane Mode on and off. Further and more recent claims from other users span across devices (including from the Pixel 5 and 6 series) and nations (Italy and Spain have been mentioned). Some of them say their phone eventually does regain signal anytime between two and 30 minutes down the line. Others say the Airplane Mode toggle trick doesn’t fix the problem for them.
The nature of this problem means it’s more chronic for adventurous Pixel owners driving through poor coverage zones and end up in a structured parking facility. It might be more acute for subway riders where the stations offer some level of connectivity between the long gaps of the tunnels. That said, we’re talking about crucial functionality on these phones, so it’s a big deal any way you slice it.
The case has been assigned for investigation. Google has not put out an update since after the reporting user submitted an enhanced bug report with verbose vendor log.
As was mentioned above, considering QPR1 is going to be the vessel for the big Pixel Feature Drop due in December, eyes are on Google to make sure these experiences can be resolved.
