The end of 3G and VoLTE support

[jmorris]

Getting messages that 3G is ending in the US at the end of this year and that my device might not be supported.  VoLTE seems to be the issue, apparently I'm not using it and my carrier's system is keying off that to issue warnings.

Since there are zero options to configure the phone / modem in the GUI, pretty sure this is going to involve editing a modem init string or opening a terminal program.  Have the modem manual so can find the string to enable VoLTE, don't know where PMOS wants it done where it will be sticky across reboots and updates.

If 3G really is ending in the US we might want to publicize how to make this change, maybe change the default?  Odds are the US isn't the first to decommission 3G and certainly won't be the last.  5G is an unstoppable force at this point and hungers for bandwidth.

[puffchumpy]

The main US networks T-Mobile, Verizon and ATT are turning off their 3G networks. They all have different dates. Makes 3G wireless spectrum available for other things, probably 5G.

The pinephone supports voLTE and it works on T-Mobile and Verizon. I've used it with RedPocket GSMT(T-Mobile network) and on Verizon. The modem shows the voLTE profile in use and that the ISM is configured. ATT has an allow only IMEI list of approved phones, until Pine64 does some shady backroom deal with ATT the pinephone will not be "tested" or approved. I've been using an H2O Wireless(ATT network) sim card. The pinephone modem has the ATT VoLTE profile active but can not register the ISM for VoLTE to work. H2O Wireless uses the ATT network, I was hoping they used there own VoLTE solution but that is not the case. The PinePhone will not work after February 2022 on ATT and most ATT MVNOs likes H2O.

If you are in the US, you will be limited to T-Mobile, Verizon and maybe UScellular base networks. And in many cases the unknown pinephone IMEI seems to mean SIM activation will require an approved phone. Then the sim card can be moved to the pinephone.

[wibble]

I think it needs Quectel to do the deal with ATT rather than Pine64 - the pinephone is just another user of their standard modem and firmware.