Mobile Carriers in the United States

[aren]

What carriers are people in the US using?

I went to get a ting sim card today and wasn't able to, apparently because, based on the imei, the PinePhone doesn't support VoLTE. Is that correct information?

[colin hodsdon]

What carriers are people in the US using?

I went to get a ting sim card today and wasn't able to, apparently because, based on the imei, the PinePhone doesn't support VoLTE. Is that correct information?

[loefflerlabs]

I got a BYOP SIM package from TracFone and I have had great luck with the T-Mobile compatible SIM card so far. Activation was as simple as putting the card in the phone and sending a text message.

[Freak]

I was able to make on call on AT&T, with Sailfish, I think.

[tllim]

What carriers are people in the US using?

I went to get a ting sim card today and wasn't able to, apparently because, based on the imei, the PinePhone doesn't support VoLTE. Is that correct information?

Ting has two service, Sprint and T-Mobile. Make sure is T-Mobile.

The PinePhone capable of VoLTE support and all VoLTE needs particular carriers service to certified according to Quectel who provide the EG-25G module. This means the EG-25G firmware needs to update to match with the particular carriers VoLTE service, and considers PinePhone doesn't support VoLTE service even the PinePhone hardware capable to do so. VoLTE still a very new thing to Linux Mobile community, when such feature can be supported is still unknown.

[mypine]

Update:
I've finally had some success with the AT&T sim for Tracphone. I went to a different area today with better cell tower coverage and was able to make my first call from my pinephone. Very excited about that! I made a successful call from both PMOS(plasma) and from UBPorts. The call from PMOS had sound, albeit very bad sound, I could hardly hear the other party, but the call was a general success. However on UBPorts I had no sound at all, and the other party couldn't hear me. Maybe there are some instructions I haven't followed (although I do have a script that runs all the commands to enable sound from Lukes 'quick tutorial...' https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=8923).

I'll make another post if there are more updates.

End update

Original post outlining problems:
I'm struggling with getting the sim to work currently with tracphone with an AT&T sim card. It doesn't work so far on ubports or on pmos (phosh).

On ubuntu touch, on the network screen, it shows at first 'searching' and then it will say denied. I activated the sim from another phone so the sim should be active (maybe I'll try it again in a few minutes just to be sure it had time to activate).

Some additional info - I've tried sim cards from 3 different carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, in ubports. The Verizon sim is simply not recognized, the T-Mobile and AT&T sims just show searching and then denied. The AT&T sim is the only one I've activated, but it does the same thing whether activated or not, so far.

I thought I saw another thread indicating t-mobile was the only carrier to work in the US but I'm not certain I remember completely accurately. I think t-mobile gets crappy or no service at all where I'm at so that won't work for me, most likely.

Just wanted to leave this feedback and hopefully update it once I've had some success.

[rocket2nfinity]

Verizon does support VoLTE but even though they are shutting down their 2G network right now, they are still requiring certification of the device. So you are unlkily to be able to make calls now or in the near future with them or their MVNOs. Their MVNOs should allow data access - PagePlus etc. But someone else will have to confirm this.

AT&T last month said they are opening any phone with functional VoLTE on their network in preparation of shutting their 2G network in 2022. It may or may not have been done yet in your area, nor do I know what steps, updates the pinephone community will need to do to make that happen. But you should at least get data.

T-mobile and their MVNOs should work for now. I think they are your best bet. But activate the SIM in another phone first. Metro by Tmobile by the way will require you to call them or go into their store to activate the device on their network. They still lock Sims to the IMEI, so you wont be able to transfer it without calling customer service.

You might be having an APN issue. I got denied at first because Ubuntu Touch didn't update my APN settings

[soyrunner]

Verizon does support VoLTE but even though  they are shutting down their 2G network right now, they are still requiring  certification of the device. So you are unlkily to be able to make calls now or in the near future with them or their MVNOs. Their MVNOs should allow data access - PagePlus etc. But someone else will have to confirm this.

AT&T last month said they are opening any phone with functional VoLTE on their network in preparation  of shutting their 2G network in 2022. It may or may not have been done yet in your area, nor do I know what steps, updates the pinephone community will need to do to make that happen. But you should at least get data.

T-mobile and their MVNOs should work for now. I think they are your best bet. But activate the SIM in another phone first. Metro by Tmobile by the way will require you to call them or go into their store to activate the device on their network. They still lock Sims to the IMEI, so you wont be able to transfer it without calling customer service.

You might be having an APN issue. I got denied at first because Ubuntu Touch didn't update my APN settings

Verizon via PPC is probably similar in locking the sim to the IMEI unless it's just poor reception.  I bought an inexpensive phone to swap SIM to the pinephone.  SIM has been okay, a single bar and working on the inexpensive phone.  I swapped the SIM to the pinephone with ubuntu touch.  No SIM detected.  Shut it down and pulled the sdcard and booted to the test screen,  Automatic tests failed the modem.  Went to the modem and it slowly populated, then a minute later it identified the card and showed VoLTE and incoming but -86dbm.  Went back to automatic tests and modem passed.  I shut it down again and readded the sdcard with ubuntu.  Rebooted and still No SIM detected.  Went outside looking for a signal but no joy.



soyrunner

[rocket2nfinity]

Verizon does support VoLTE but even though  they are shutting down their 2G network right now, they are still requiring  certification of the device. So you are unlkily to be able to make calls now or in the near future with them or their MVNOs. Their MVNOs should allow data access - PagePlus etc. But someone else will have to confirm this.

AT&T last month said they are opening any phone with functional VoLTE on their network in preparation  of shutting their 2G network in 2022. It may or may not have been done yet in your area, nor do I know what steps, updates the pinephone community will need to do to make that happen. But you should at least get data.

T-mobile and their MVNOs should work for now. I think they are your best bet. But activate the SIM in another phone first. Metro by Tmobile by the way will require you to call them or go into their store to activate the device on their network. They still lock Sims to the IMEI, so you wont be able to transfer it without calling customer service.

You might be having an APN issue. I got denied at first because Ubuntu Touch didn't update my APN settings

Verizon via PPC is probably similar in locking the sim to the IMEI unless it's just poor reception.  I bought an inexpensive phone to swap SIM to the pinephone.  SIM has been okay, a single bar and working on the inexpensive phone.  I swapped the SIM to the pinephone with ubuntu touch.  No SIM detected.  Shut it down and pulled the sdcard and booted to the test screen,  Automatic tests failed the modem.  Went to the modem and it slowly populated, then a minute later it identified the card and showed VoLTE and incoming but -86dbm.  Went back to automatic tests and modem passed.  I shut it down again and readded the sdcard with ubuntu.  Rebooted and still No SIM detected.  Went outside looking for a signal but no joy.



soyrunner

That is a very weak signal. But it sounds like your modem is not on when in Ubuntu Touch. Did you try inputting this in terminal in Ubuntu Touch?

Code:

sudo /usr/share/ofono/scripts/enable-modem
sudo /usr/share/ofono/scripts/online-modem

[buffer]

FWIW, I'm testing with Mint Mobile which offer $5 trial SIM cards that work for 1 week. I even got one for just $1 at Best Buy.

I checked the IMEI and they support PinePhone:

"Congratulations! Your phone is pretty boss and will receive our fastest data speed—4G LTE!"

Watch this space.

Update:

https://www.mintmobile.com/setup-for-android/
APN settings for Mint Mobile on Debian + Phosh:

Simply go to Settings > Mobile > Access Point Names > + button to add new,
Name: Ultra
APN: Wholesale.
Then save it.

Call them up to activate using the number on their website, it was no problem. Did not have to download/install any apps from Google Play or whatever. Make sure to reboot the phone.

That's all you need...

Calls and SMS work. But I know of no OS using ModemManager that supports MMS at all. See issue: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/chatty/issues/30