Why do i have to turn airplane mode and off to regain signal?

My iphone 5 have been acting weird recently, it was with ios 9.3.something. I disnt use it for a longtime since i broke the screen. I decided to fix it. Then i'm not getting any signal, it either search or no service. But one sim i used seemed to pick up the network perfectly, but others they don't! My iphone is unlockked by the way. I decided to upgrade to ios 10.3.1 now i do get signal from other sim cards but its really poor! It get lost rapidly, and when the signal is lost i have to turn airplane mode on and off to regain signal back. What could be wrong?

I go thru the same thing with mine, except I have to reboot three or four times a day. I think its just time for a new phone…

It is possible that you or whoever repaired the screen, may have damaged the antenna or some connection inside the phone is loose or something else is going on, but playing with the setting does not seem to be helping much.

Have you moved to a weak cell signal area?
For the carrier that you are using mainly, has the APN settings been updated since you last used this phone? Might be worth a check to see if it is current. Is it possible that you need a newer updated sim card for the carrier?

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