Least qualified user asking for advice

[Zebulon Walton]

I have both Tracfone hosted on AT&T's towers, plus AT&T native service working with the Pinephone. (The latter using my flip phone's SIM which was already activated.) The Pinephone however is not on AT&T's "approved" list of devices and may be booted off at some point. If that happens I'll be looking for another provider myself.

[KABA]

I have both Tracfone hosted on AT&T's towers,... looking for another provider myself.

So to your knowledge even if the carrier is tracphone Att will still black list?

[Zebulon Walton]

So to your knowledge even if the carrier is tracphone Att will still black list?

That's what we've been informed by one of the users here who works in the industry. I have not experienced it myself, but am not yet using the Pinephone on a regular basis.

[TRS-80]

So far, I have had good luck with Walmart Family Mobile GSM sim (which I'm pretty sure uses T-Mobile towers).  Everything[0] works including quite fast 4G data[1] and even VoLTE(!).

I read a bit before making that choice (check the forums yourself if you like).  And I don't remember reading about any black listing nonsense, nor other jumping through hoops (like Verizon apparently make you do), etc.  Everything "just works" so far.  I was even able to purchase the SIM card and service with cash (at any Walmart) and use a fake name (only an email address was required).  Putting it all together is why I am very happy (so far) and why I continue repeating my experience in various threads.

I only started seriously using the phone as daily driver maybe a couple weeks ago.  So still very early days.  But I drive all over the US for work, I am off this week but really looking forward to going back so I can do more thorough testing all over the place and report back my findings.

[0] Well not MMS, but that's being worked on and is very close.  In fact I think you can even get it working now if you are willing to get your hands a little dirty at the command line.  Point being, that is a software, not a carrier/service, limitation.

[1] Today I tested (via https://speedof.me) 40-45 Mbps down and 5-15 up.  I seem to recall similar (what I consider to be pretty good) speeds when testing previously.  But I want to do more testing, from more locations, before I can really swear by it.

[KABA]

I did the 1c tracpone sim from eBay and so far its working ok, a speedtest check was 70 some mb, faster than my starlink 
I have the Arch ARM and if I leave everything off, BT/WiFi the battery will last pretty decently, its a long road, no instant gratification but so far I'm happy with it, the speaker phone is my biggest hardware grip 

[TRS-80]

Glad to hear you are getting on OK, and another carrier/service data point for those looking for such info!

[bcnaz]

Hey all (anyone)

I've put off the smartphone and stuck with fliphones as all I really want from a phone is to make and receive calls, I hate bloat 

I've minimal Linux experience, use putty for some basic operations

Anyhow I'm game to report on this experience as it relates too novice use and willing to create and push videos for those like myself

Is there a consensus on which software to install for noobs?

Thanks in advance

Robert

Hi KABA,
  I've been following Pine phone since I discovered Pine64,  I was near the front of the line to get a Pinebook Pro.

And again when they released the Brave Heart Edition of Pine phone.

I really had high hopes for the Ubuntu Touch operating system,  that was the first one I got to work on my Brave Heart phone.

but after a few months of working systems,   their releases started needing a Developers skill-set just to make them work.

I kinda bounced around for a few months,  I would find one that worked,  until they updated, then I would have try and find another working OS.

Then came Debian, it worked,  not perfect but it worked.  That Evolved into Mobian.

As Mobian their talk has worked, not always perfect, but it 'worked' ..
    For a while they did have some problems on again off again with their Text.

My opinion :  Mobian is the best "Out of the Box"  operating system.

Second place : I would say is Arch Linux,  it works okay,  just download / flash and it works.

** Though I have been using various Linux operating systems for 22+ years,  I am still very much a "GUI user"

While some with developer skills may prefer other "Distro's"  
  If you are new to the Linux world perhaps Mobian or Arch would be a good starting point.

Good Luck

[KABA]

My opinion :  Mobian is the best "Out of the Box"  operating system.

Second place : I would say is Arch Linux,  it works okay,  just download / flash and it works.

Thank you for your reply, not sure if I tried Mobian, went through a lot of various OS attempts for awhile but am running ARCH now and it is my daily driver,
while I prefer a flip phone I am anticipating learning the benefits of a pocket PC, though I hate toting the around like a baby, needing to be aware of where its at,
careful to not damage it, lots of BS compared to just having it in your pocket

Oops, drifting off into an elderly gripe fest, my bad, sorry, thanks again!