Mobian Mobile Data Doesn't Work

[pablo180]

Been using Mobian for a few days on a couple of different phones and with different SIM cards. Yet I have been completely unable to get mobile data to work at all. I have the icons 2G, 3G, 4G etc but there is never an actual data connection, yet from what I have read it should be working?

I am not sure if it is because the SIM cards that I am using are from piggy back networks - GiffGaff and Virgin Mobile in the UK - or whether there is some setting or set up that I am missing. Both SIM cards work in both phones and have data connections using UBPorts, this problem only occurs in Mobian.

I have tried setting up the APNs using the correct settings multiple times, with no luck whatsoever. Is there another step that I am missing?

I had so much grief with Virgin (UK) that I swapped my contract to 3!

Yup it definitely seems related to MVNO, somewhere there is another thread about an MVNO in the USA causing pain. With Virgin I could get a data connection after playing with APN settings (all goto.virginmobile.uk) and rebooting repeatedly in a high strength signal area after about an hour. In a low strength signal area I got a data connection about once in 3 weeks (this was during strong lockdown!) With 3 I just never have a problem.

There definitely seems to be a problem MVNOs and an odd problem with Virgin specifically. I managed to get the data working on both GiffGaff and Virgin by just adding a password to the APN that I already had set up following the network instructions. I set the password as just "password" and they both started working fine after that for data, even though that should have been left blank. I have a decent signal for Virgin so was able to get 4G and it worked really well after that.

However another problem that I have been having with Mobian and Virgin is that the signal just goes, and doesn't come back, sometimes for hours other times it just doesn't come back at all. It doesn't do this on any other network, just Virgin and even when I know I have a good signal. So even though data now works, I can barely ever use it. So I think I am also going to give up with Virgin and Mobian.