US Mobile, via T-Mobile, won't support Pinephone Pro - SOLVED, SIMPLY

[jovval]

Yeah, found it just after my post: Spacebar, its icon hidden in plain view on the desktop between Phone and Angelfish.
I did receive and send a message, so I have a fully functional PP.

[dchang0]

A bit late to the party, but I'll add some notes that may help future readers.

I was told that the black SIM provided by US Mobile (called "Warp 5G") would not work with the PPP. Not sure if it does or not--I chose the white SIM provided by US Mobile in the same packet (called "GSM"), and it seems to work. It is possible that the black SIM might also work in the PPP (i.e. I may have been told incorrectly information).

For certain: Warp 5G (the black SIM) is for the Verizon network; GSM (the white SIM) is for the T-Mobile network.

I am not using the "pwg" APN that US Mobile calls their "Legacy GSM Network" on this instruction page:

https://www.usmobile.com/help/articles/243520

I am using the latest "wholesale" APN just fine. If I did not put any APN into the PPP (running Mobian), no cellular data would pass at all, though I could make and receive calls.


Re: the whole "stand alone modem' thing.

That's because the Quectel EG25-G modem in the PPP is registered in the IMEI database as being "just a Quectel EG25-G modem" and not under a specific make and model of smartphone or tablet. You could buy a, say, Samsung phone that has the exact same Quectel EG25-G modem in it, but its IMEI would be registered as, say, a Samsung Galaxy B21 in the IMEI database. The carriers COULD look at that and say, "hey, my supervisor told me that we don't support IMEIs that don't say Samsung Galaxy B21," but from a technical perspective, it is the same modem inside.

Put another way, if Pine64 paid to have its PPP IMEIs registered as "Pine64 PinePhone Pro [blah] Edition Smartphone" so that the tech support people see that when they do the lookup, then this objection would no longer be thrown our way by carrier tech support (though they might say, "we don't support PinePhone smartphones" as a way to blow us off).

[dchang0]

Follow up. I am successfully testing a US Mobile "Dark Star" SIM in my PPP thanks to a Black Friday 2024 offer of one month free service with an extra line on the "Dark Star" network. (The idea is that if I don't cancel the line, it will start auto-charging on the $10/month plan.)

"Dark Star" is the AT&T network. I did not expect AT&T to allow my IMEI, but it worked without issue as soon as I inserted the activated SIM.

So, I can personally confirm that US Mobile's white T-Mobile SIM and "Dark Star" AT&T SIM work in the PPP without IMEI spoofing or any extra effort. I have not tested the black Verizon SIM yet.

[tllim]

Follow up. I am successfully testing a US Mobile "Dark Star" SIM in my PPP thanks to a Black Friday 2024 offer of one month free service with an extra line on the "Dark Star" network. (The idea is that if I don't cancel the line, it will start auto-charging on the $10/month plan.)

"Dark Star" is the AT&T network. I did not expect AT&T to allow my IMEI, but it worked without issue as soon as I inserted the activated SIM.

So, I can personally confirm that US Mobile's white T-Mobile SIM and "Dark Star" AT&T SIM work in the PPP without IMEI spoofing or any extra effort. I have not tested the black Verizon SIM yet.

Thanks on the info. Please help on update your experience at Pinephone wiki page: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/PinePhone_Carrier_Support

[dchang0]

Follow up on my last post.

US Mobile has recently undergone some changes to their "unlimited" data terms, especially in regards to Dark Star (AT&T).
I used 122GB on Dark Star and was hard-cut-off. Then, when calling their tech support three times, the customer service agents dodged explaining why. I was finally able to figure out that I had hit some secret hard limit, even though the agents were all telling me that I would simply be throttled down to a very slow speed after reaching the monthly data cap of 70GB. I found a post on Android Authority talking about some other user who had been hard-banned for going over 200-something GB.

Anyway, while talking with the agents, two of them separately accused me of using a router. I explained that the PinePhone Pro has what looks like a standalone Quectel modem, but that didn't seem to convince them. At the end of the billing cycle, my line was suspended, and I simply declined to renew the service and asked for a refund of the prepaid charge for the month.

I had never had any trouble going over the lower 35GB limit on the US Mobile Lightspeed (T-Mobile) network; they simply throttled it down as stated in the terms,, and that's fine with me. I'd rather have throttling than a hard-cutoff.

My suspicion is that AT&T's terms to its MVNOs are harsher than T-Mobile's. This is based on my seeing many used smartphones being sold on ebay where they state that the phone's IMEI has been blacklisted by AT&T.

In my case, it doesn't seem US Mobile has blacklisted my PPP by its IMEI yet; I can take a working Dark Star SIM from a different line and put it in my PinePhone Pro and it will work. But I figure I'll be flagged again by notes in my account and then have to spend hours debating with customer service that it's a phone and not a standalone modem, so I won't bother trying to get the PPP working with US Mobile again, on any of their carriers.

Instead, I'm planning on switching to Verizon (but I will need a Verizon-whitelisted IMEI). Then again, my PPP is getting so slow with the LINUX distros that I'm thinking of just retiring it entirely.