Sim cards and carriers, discussion
#41
For Japan providers:
SoftBank: doesn't work. They literally can only support iPhone, Android, and garake (which are flip phones, which all run AOSP Android if they support 4G LTE, WiFi, or both).
Rakuten Mobile: works! No IMEI locking, no specific OS only, no other shinanigans. And on top of that they're way cheaper too. Although just like with SoftBank, their ID verification AI can't read my ID, so I had to let SAGAWA (one of the many postal service companies) verify at the front door instead.
母語は日本語ですが、英語も喋れます(ry
  Reply
#42
(11-29-2020, 09:47 PM)W64 Wrote: I was wondering if certain distros work better than others for call quality. I have been able to activate both AT&T and Verizon through MVNO's with great signal and 4G LTE all day.  <snip>
I'm using H20 prepaid wireless (an AT&T MVNO). The SIM card was previously installed in my Moto G4 and Moto E phones. H20 is functional for voice, SMS and data on my PinePhone. Sadly, it doesn't work at my home and I must wait for the Inland Cellular (a small CDMA provider) to support VoLTE before I'll be able to use my phone outside of the big cities here in rural Idaho. Even Verizon does not yet provide Gen4 and VoLTE to its rural Idaho customers.

I've found Mobian to offer the best stability and fewest mobile network connection problems as well as the most functional GUI interface, but I still find myself using the CLI quite often.

I've come to the conclusion that the PinePhone is really a "GSM phone", which for the most part supports VoLTE so it can be used to access CDMA carrier networks too (via VoLTE only, where it's available). Also, WCDMA (listed as supported in the PinePhone modem spec) is a GSM "thing." It first brought Gen4 performance to the "GSM carriers."

The problem with the rural USA is no providers supports VoLTE (or even Gen 4) throughout their service areas. In summary, the PinePhone is currently a poor choice for people who need coverage in many rural areas but it's a great choice to support community open source smartphone development!
  Reply
#43
@NobodyNew1

Are you still having problems with your 'Manjaro' edition phone ?

I have seen at least 2 other forum members who discovered the antenna wire was not connected on their Manjaro phones.

After "connecting" the wire, their phones are now working.

Of the 5 assorted Pine phones I have, only Verizon sim cards are not recognized in my experiences.
      LINUX = CHOICES
         **BCnAZ**
               Idea
   Donate to $upport
your favorite OS Team
  Reply
#44
I have tried Patriot mobile, T-mobile, Verizon, and AT&T was the one that worked, but it was intermittent signal with Ubuntu Touch so I tried Mobian and it work well.
  Reply
#45
I've got US Mobile "Super LTE" (Verizon) working calls in and outbound VoLTE, SMS in and outbound, and LTE data with a blank APN. Their "GSM LTE" (T-Mobile) doesn't receive SMS with the fast.t-mobile.com APN. Mint Mobile (T-Mobile) works in all regards with VoLTE with their provided APN. This is all under Manjaro Beta 3 stable and testing branches.
  Reply
#46
(12-08-2020, 10:03 PM)bcnaz Wrote: Of the 5 assorted Pine phones I have,  only Verizon sim cards are not recognized in my experiences.
I have an old unsubscribed Verizon prepaid card. It's recognized just fine. I didn't attempt to place a call, because it's unsubscribed, but I get good signal strength indications.
  Reply
#47
(12-09-2020, 12:22 PM)ronnybob Wrote: I have tried Patriot mobile, T-mobile, Verizon, and AT&T was the one that worked, but it was intermittent signal with Ubuntu Touch so I tried Mobian and it work well.


Hi, Big Grin exactly same on my side (I tried T-mobile)
Mobian is working ...with ubuntu I have same issue ...just Manjaro Phosh Beta2 and Plasma Alpha7 is working
now I am using Mobian, thank you
  Reply
#48
Does Tracfone have different procedures for registering SIM cards than they do for flip phones? Because your statement does not at all reflect my past experience. In the interests of privacy, I have set up several "burner" flip Tracfones anonymously, by purchasing a Walmart gift card for cash, and then using the gift card to pay for my Tracfone account. Of course, Tracfone requires certain "PI" to be typed into an on-line form to set up the account, but they have no way to verify it. Now, it has probably been about three years since I last did this, but I am unaware of any changes in the governing regulations that would force service providers into exercising more vigilance in order to obtain accurate information.
  Reply
#49
(12-22-2020, 03:05 PM)samiam Wrote: Does Tracfone have different procedures for registering SIM cards than they do for flip phones? Because your statement does not at all reflect my past experience. In the interests of privacy, I have set up several "burner" flip Tracfones anonymously, by purchasing a Walmart gift card for cash, and then using the gift card to pay for my Tracfone account. Of course, Tracfone requires certain "PI" to be typed into an on-line form to set up the account, but they have no way to verify it. Now, it has probably been about three years since I last did this, but I am unaware of any changes in the governing regulations that would force service providers into exercising more vigilance in order to obtain accurate information.
I did the same with the cash gift card transaction and forms several years ago just to see if privacy was possible and it worked for me too. I used the phone for a couple of years. It might be worth trying again with the PinePhone.
  Reply
#50
Manjaro Beta 4 on T-Mobile has working data, sms, VoLTE and hotspot for me.

Using it on my Manjaro CE device.
  Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  MMS-Monitor: Help for carriers with dual APNs? treebeard 2 1,247 02-10-2023, 02:45 PM
Last Post: treebeard
  Phone carriers and the Speakout carrier bedtime 3 1,967 08-16-2022, 11:11 PM
Last Post: Oblivion2528
  compatible carriers the7thpoint 2 1,641 06-17-2022, 08:24 AM
Last Post: mikehenson
  UK Carriers Zweitaktmotor 4 2,885 03-27-2022, 07:05 AM
Last Post: Dog House Dave
  Carriers do not support PinePhone? rey70 22 12,812 02-07-2022, 09:06 PM
Last Post: bcnaz
  pinephone 2 specs discussion - 5G WiFi6 BT5 NFC? - mitcoes 17 16,357 10-08-2021, 07:50 PM
Last Post: zetabeta
Question Mobile Carriers 67comet 29 27,325 07-14-2021, 11:47 PM
Last Post: rocket2nfinity
  Pinephone inexpensive carriers and free carriers linux_n 8 8,743 07-13-2021, 01:09 PM
Last Post: TRS-80
  Cannot boot from SD cards any longer. MadHopsMan 8 7,027 05-11-2021, 05:12 PM
Last Post: Avatars
  Performance improvements, discussion Soong 1 2,201 05-03-2021, 12:27 AM
Last Post: dsimic

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 2 Guest(s)