What OS will actually work with phone calls?

What OS will actually work with phone calls? - Printable Version

+- PINE64 (https://forum.pine64.org)
+-- Forum: PinePhone (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=120)
+--- Forum: General Discussion on PinePhone (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=127)
+--- Thread: What OS will actually work with phone calls? (/showthread.php?tid=14205)

Pages: 1 2

What OS will actually work with phone calls? - Nutmeg - 06-15-2021

We received our Pinephones and have cycled through almost all of the available OS options. None of them really consistently seem to work for receiving and making phone calls. I am currently running Arch and it seems to be the least glitchy, and my husband has Mobian. We really need, above all else, to be able to make and receive calls. We are in the country with solid 3G and spotty 4G. Arch gets calls most of the time, makes calls most of the time, but if there is any switching between 3G/4G then sound is lost or call is dropped. Mobian seems to be worse. We really like KDE but got nowhere with phone calls on that. What is the scoop? We are currently trying PureTalk for service, and have entertained switching back to Verizon, but my suspicion is that it is the phone/software,.not the service. Help!

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - ryo - 06-15-2021

Everyone is reporting differently.
In total over the past 8 months, I only made 1 real phone call (so excluding the test calls) on all smartphones combined.
Worked OK-ish with the combination of Mobian + Rakuten Mobile, but it's definitely not a clear communication.
Maybe that was because I was outside while it was windy and with lots of car traffic crossing by, while the other side was in a car trying to find me because I couldn't find their rather hidden hotel.

What's causing the differences?
I don't know.
Maybe it's a hostile ISP trying to throttle devices they don't like, maybe it's the modem being broken or having immature firmware (let's hope for the latter, as that's fixable), maybe it's the OS doing something it shouldn't do...
Could be anything.

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - Nutmeg - 06-15-2021

Thanks for the reply. I really, really want to make this phone work! You are probably spot on with the ISP comment. We held on to our basic phones as long as we could and Verizon is pushing them to extinction, but all our computers are Linux run, so it made sense to try the Pinephone, and we will never jump ship to Apple or Google or any of the other evils of the world, but we have to have reliable phone service....

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - rocket2nfinity - 06-15-2021

Verizon works with Mobian, Manjaro phosh, and arch. Try them via an MVNO such as Red Pocket, or US Mobile. Setting up is easier via an MVNO, requires a call or visit to the store directly with Verizon. And with US Mobile it's easy to switch from Verizon to GSM if it works better.

And the Pinephone modem is improving. There is a firmware update that helps, and an open firmware in development. I'd upgrade firmware, or just wait for it to roll out if trying different carriers doesn't help.

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - Nutmeg - 06-18-2021

@rocket2nfinity thanks for the reply!! We will head into a Verizon store as soon. As we can- we were hoping to save money on Puretalk but life in the boonies, I think it is Verizon or nothing for us. Thanks for the help.

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - rocket2nfinity - 06-18-2021

(06-18-2021, 09:42 PM)Nutmeg Wrote: @rocket2nfinity thanks for the reply!! We will head into a Verizon store as soon. As we can- we were hoping to save money on Puretalk but life in the boonies, I think it is Verizon or nothing for us. Thanks for the help.

You could also save a trip by getting a Red Pocket or US Mobile verizon network sim in the mail....

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - hiimtye - 06-19-2021

i use freedom mobile in a new market which has spotty reception at best. where i have decent reception im able to place and receive phone calls and receive sms messages. sending texts is broken on sxmo for me atm but was working fine before so long as i have service.

where im moving next week apparently has better service so we'll see if my experience improves

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - Nutmeg - 06-27-2021

(06-18-2021, 11:57 PM)rocket2nfinity Wrote:
(06-18-2021, 09:42 PM)Nutmeg Wrote: @rocket2nfinity thanks for the reply!! We will head into a Verizon store as soon. As we can- we were hoping to save money on Puretalk but life in the boonies, I think it is Verizon or nothing for us. Thanks for the help.
You could also save a trip by getting a Red Pocket or US Mobile verizon network sim in the mail....

We could not get the U.S. Mobile SIM to work on either pinephone with various Operating Systems. Right now we are managing with Puretalk, but the service is spotty, Verizon (or US Mobile) would be better, but..... I fear that our issue may be that we have spotty 4G in our area anyway, so it may not matter which carrier....

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - rocket2nfinity - 06-27-2021

(06-27-2021, 08:00 PM)Nutmeg Wrote:
(06-18-2021, 11:57 PM)rocket2nfinity Wrote:
(06-18-2021, 09:42 PM)Nutmeg Wrote: @rocket2nfinity thanks for the reply!! We will head into a Verizon store as soon. As we can- we were hoping to save money on Puretalk but life in the boonies, I think it is Verizon or nothing for us. Thanks for the help.
You could also save a trip by getting a Red Pocket or US Mobile verizon network sim in the mail....

We could not get the U.S. Mobile SIM to work on either pinephone with various Operating Systems. Right now we are managing with Puretalk, but the service is spotty, Verizon (or US Mobile) would be better, but..... I fear that our issue may be that we have spotty 4G in our area anyway, so it may not matter which carrier....

https://www.signalboosters.com/blog/find-your-cell-tower-map-complete-guide/

RE: What OS will actually work with phone calls? - odh - 06-29-2021

I am somewhat of a Linux noob, I only started dual booting Linux to my PC a couple of years ago, I realize Pinephone as it is now is more of a tinkerer's device, just wish there was one reliable distribution I could rely on as a phone to completely ditch Android and iOS. As of now I have not found one. I get its people in the Linux community writing code, apps, etc that may not even be monetarily compensated for their work that make Linux what it is. Just wish there was someone out there maybe a company like Pine64 working on a linux distro that would make the Pinephone at minimum a serviceable phone that could be used as a basic communication device.