T-mobile USA region celluar issue

[FOSSagent0]

I have still not ruled out if there are any issues with the OS's or the hardware firmware of the Quectel EG-25G. From my experience starting with the UBports Community Edition phone I have had unreliable cellular services. For anyone in the same boat as I hopefully this thread can draw some info and help.

As of right now  (May 5th 2021) I am running Mobian OS, Im using a new Beta Edition Pinephone that got shipped out recently with it. I tend to get loss of cellular connection. Im located in an Unincorporated District of Los Angeles. When the phone gets cellular it shows 4 bars of signal and 4G connection. When I lose connection and Im not moving anywhere from home I tend to just reset the phone. I'm not sure what I can do from my end since I looked into frequency bands using a app on my android phone. The app LTE Discovery shows that in my area there is  2 bands.

Band: 66, 71 and 2.

The app shows other data in the logs such as GCI, PCI, Provider, Time and Band. I can't make sense of the data since I have no knowledge of this stuff. The data I get is from my android phone which has the app. Ill update this in a bit

Does the OS force a type of Frequency Band by default? Is it the Tower and/or Providers doing? The current result is that I can not use my phone as a daily driver if even the cellular is not working reliably. 

[rocket2nfinity]

The OS does not detetmine the band used, the modem does. Both AT&T and Verizon use band 2 as a backup. Check to see if they show up under cellular- carriers list (listed as at&t or 310xxx number combo for verizon) on your android phone. Maybe you'll get lucky and have options.

[mikehenson]

I have experienced the loss of cellular (calls and data) randomly. I have not gathered enough data to report a problem, but when it does happen, the phone is waking from a deep sleep. I think it also has something to do with a low battery.
OS: Arch Linux rolling release
GUI: Phosh
Carrier: FaithWireless (AT&T)

[C0ffeeFreak]

I have still not ruled out if there are any issues with the OS's or the hardware firmware of the Quectel EG-25G. From my experience starting with the UBports Community Edition phone I have had unreliable cellular services. For anyone in the same boat as I hopefully this thread can draw some info and help.

As of right now  (May 5th 2021) I am running Mobian OS, Im using a new Beta Edition Pinephone that got shipped out recently with it. I tend to get loss of cellular connection. Im located in an Unincorporated District of Los Angeles. When the phone gets cellular it shows 4 bars of signal and 4G connection. When I lose connection and Im not moving anywhere from home I tend to just reset the phone. I'm not sure what I can do from my end since I looked into frequency bands using a app on my android phone. The app LTE Discovery shows that in my area there is  2 bands.

Band: 66, 71 and 2.

The app shows other data in the logs such as GCI, PCI, Provider, Time and Band. I can't make sense of the data since I have no knowledge of this stuff. The data I get is from my android phone which has the app. Ill update this in a bit

Does the OS force a type of Frequency Band by default? Is it the Tower and/or Providers doing? The current result is that I can not use my phone as a daily driver if even the cellular is not working reliably. 

Where are you in the US? Band 12 is and has been the main LTE band used by T-Mobile for the last two years. Band 71 600 MHZ is an aggregate band that combines multiple bands for T-Mobile's 5G. Band 66 is not used much anymore. Band 2 1900 MHZ is still used in the cities but doesn't have good penetration into structures or over mountains and through wooded areas, so you can lose the signal easily, that's why T-Mobile expanded to band 12 700 MHZ pretty much everywhere. I am on band 12 almost always except for the big cities when I am on band 2 sometimes. The Pinephone doesn't have band 71 or 41, the newer bands T-Mobile is starting to expand 5G to but they expanded band 12 everywhere because of its extended range.

[Avatars]

RedPocket for $99/yr (ebay) incl. 1gig/month data plan charged yearly. It's att but I haven't had mine long enough to accurately complain about the modem (redpocket works perfect though I can attest to that). i drove around once using it as a hotspot to listen to a rock station in chechoslovakia on vlc with my droid phone hooked to an fm transmitter (car has no bt and I haven't configured vlc on the pinephone just yet). Calls wise I don't make or take many but I haven't seen any drop issues.

[treebuilder]

I also use T-Mobile in the US, and experience regular drops. It seems that when the modem switches from 4G to 3G due to signal strength or tower change or what-have-you, it'll do a hard drop and I lose any call I may be on.

[FOSSagent0]

I forgot to add these, I used this LTE Discovery app on my android phone to get some info on those bands in my area.

I have 3 LTE Discovery screenshots attached