Help! VoLTE Australia emergency calling CMF phone not recognised on latest eOS

/e/OS Devices Nothing
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Hi everyone - apologies, hoping I’m posting this to the right topic. I’m a newbie in a bit of a Situation with my Nothing CMF Phone 1 which I manually installed eOS 3.1.4 tetris, and need help in quite a short time!

Here in Australia, they’re switching all the emergency services off from 3G onto LTE, and require all devices to be compatible. From what I can tell, the CMF phone 1 is compatible, and I’ve switched on VoLTE in my settings for at least a week now. (see screenshot)

But here’s the kicker: I am constantly getting Urgent warnings patched through every time I try to make any call, they keep saying that my device is Not VoLTE compatible and that I need to update to the latest software (which I think(?) eOS 3.1.4 is?)

I’ve had the warnings for months and tried swapping from two major companies and still have been getting the same warnings (Telstra network through AldiMobile, and Vodafone network through Lebara)

Now they’re threatening to disconnect everyone who isn’t compatible (!?) - I’m really nervous!!

Here is the message read-out now every time I make a call:
“Urgent: Your device will be blocked by the 7th of October if you fail to update to the latest software, as it is identified as currently being unable to make emergency 000 calls. Please urgently update your software in your device settings to avoid blocking”

I notice CMF phone isn’t on any of our major telcos’ “compatible devices” lists - but, my phone 1 is still supposed to be 5G and voLTE compatible? (I got it from JB HiFi)

I’ve updated to latest eOS and selected VoLTE in my settings last week, but now this message… what should I do? I don’t wish to be without a telephone as I live alone far from home. :frowning: I love eOS and don’t want to go to any iOS or standard-Android! Are there any other eOS or CMF Phone 1 users in Australia going through the same thing right now? Any help is much appreciated, please and thank you! x

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Not sure if it helps much but have you checked the volte-status of your device like this?

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Thanks for the message @obacht - Yep! I’ve dialled that menu and checking the device information: “Voice over LTE: Available” in IMS. Voice network type is set to LTE, and “VoLTE provisioned” is permanently switched to on (unchangeable). Edit: (Thank you anyway, it is much appreciated! :slight_smile: I figure it likely may have to do with our telcos in AU perhaps not recognising the device as an approved one in their list - will post back when they open tomorrow)

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As you said, that model is not on the telcos approved lists. Regardless of a phone’s capabilities, this is what matters. I think your best bet is to contact them and try and get them to add it to the list. It might be an uphill battle though as the list is likely a near perfect match with models available from them.

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Thanks @Vaughan, yep, I’ll definitely call them tomorrow morning (it’s past 11PM here unfortunately right now). Yes, it seems like this will be the way to go. I am sorry to hear it, I hope it won’t be too much of an uphill battle, but, will try (and will keep everyone posted). Appreciate the message very much in the meantime :slight_smile: I wonder if anyone else in Australia is also going through this too.

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To the best of my knowledge, a mobile phone can always make an emergency services call, regardless of whether a SIM/eSIM is inserted/installed or not.

And “updating software” has f*** all to do with VoLTE capability. It’s like when a website tells you you “need to” install a “modern” browser instead of your perfectly good privacy-respecting browser (which hopefully is Firefox, or a fork of Firefox).

This is strictly about your carrier(s) disallowing your perfectly capable device (assuming your device’s frequency bands are a good match for Australia’s LTE networks). Of course, the phone’s IMS/VoLTE implementation has to also be approved by the carrier. (And it sounds like it hasn’t been.)

When you make a phone call now, does your network indicator drop from “LTE” (or “4G”) to something lower (“2G,” “GSM,” “E,” etc.? If so, it’s not currently using VoLTE with that carrier, even with the setting turned on. If not, then it is using VoLTE, and you should point that out to your carrier… although they may not care.

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Thanks @Taurus for the message, yes I figured that might be the case as well (the software update warnings gave me a chuckle for the previous few weeks, until it became a warning that they’d disconnect my service oops).

It is quite upsetting that it is all being done quite forcefully by the major telcos. We had multiple people lose their life here recently when another telco (optus) shut down their 3G emergency network, it was a big news story and several people across many states couldn’t call an ambulance when they needed to and so died, but the other telcos are still going ahead with this (I especially feel for some of our elder citizens in this situation who are unsure of what to do also!)

Yep, I very much think it is it. Anyways their offices open soon, so I’ll call them soon and push them to approve the device! (and yes, my calls all still stay at VoLTE and don’t drop down), I may have to call a few companies, we’ll see how it goes.

Thank you all so much for the help so far! And if there are any Aussies out there experiencing the same please do reach out

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Hi,
I’ve got the same phone (also purchased from JB) and also at 3.1.4-a14. I haven’t had a SIM in it for a month or so, but have just dropped one in this morning. SIM is from Optus.

The SIM has only been in the phone for 15 minutes or so, but i have not yet seen any warnings. Looking at the SIM settings, they all to look to be the same as your screenshot. I turned off the ‘Allow 2G’ setting at the bottom of the list as it has been set on.

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Well, that (the support call to Lebara I mean) went badly. It seems they have no idea what they’re/I’m talking about. My company Lebara said “Don’t worry it’ll be fine as long as you update to the latest software”, but he had no idea what eOS is at all. He suggested that the message goes out to all their customers, but I know it doesn’t as I have multiple friends and coworkers on the same network as me who don’t get the message (since they updated their phones). He even said I should try ringing emergency (edit: telco hasn’t made the switch yet anyway). I asked him to add to the list of approved devices, but he said that wasn’t necessary (???)

I called the company that Lebara uses for service, which is Vodafone, but they said they couldn’t help me because I’m not their customer and that I should “get a new phone”. I asked them who I could contact in order have the device added to their list of approved devices, but they said that’s not possible/there is no way to add to the list (???)

I asked the Lebara guy if he was really sure it meant my phone wouldn’t be “blocked” and he said it would be fine (but considering he couldn’t grasp the idea that there wasn’t a standard operating system on my device, and i’m still getting the blocker warning every time I make a call… I wonder how much to trust this? :sweat_smile:)

Edit: and hi @JustinKnol! Oh I see thank you for checking - I have also disabed the 2G setting already. I wonder if it’s because Optus has already ‘made the switch’? (based on that recent news story about those people who passed) - Very reassuring though that yours is working, thank you!! :smile::heart: Without doing any unnecessary calling/staying on the line, may I ask is yours still able to contact 000 emergency?

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Just tried calling 000.
I got to the prompt asking for which service - so a call gets through.

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Amazing @JustinKnol - thank you so much for checking! :star_struck: It is very much appreciated, that is so very kind of you. :star2: In that case, well, hopefully I won’t get disconnected by Lebara on the 7th (and if I do get ‘blocked’ as they say on the line, then, maybe i’ll swap to Optus if they’re working and have an affordable plan ahaha). Thanks and will keep everybody posted, I appreciate the support from you all in the community very much!

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I would not disclose you are running eOS they will just use it as an excuse to say it’s on your end.

@helpVoLTEAU Edit: Try this got to Settings then search APN. What does the APN say for your provider?

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@Taurus emergency calls are a special case within IMS too - concerning providing a callback number and location in a sidechannel (SMS data or in SIP fields). Roaming situations are a challenge too. See this GSMA presentation (2023) or on the same topic from a european policy body (2025). Some of it is up to networks, some of it on devices/software.

In general, being able to do regular VoLTE/IMS calls isn’t a reliable test to know how the device behaves with emergency numbers by country and network.

@helpVoLTEAU specific on the Nothing CMF Phone 1 I assume it’s so new (2024 market release) that Mediatek implemented the latest 3gpp standards. If an Australian carrier really declines a 2024 device I’d contact the OEM (Nothing and Mediatek implicitly), as they have a different incentive.

Some links relevant to Australians:

Apparently a FP3 will give you a shrug in the outback after that snake bite :slight_smile: good luck everyone!

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Wow! Shades of Rogers in BC Canada.

I tried that combination of #and *with 4636, i received a message saying " Incorrect. MMI #.

LOOKING THAT MMI up i found MMI Code List for Android Devices - GadgetMates

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Hi everyone! I’m so very appreciative of everybody’s responses (one of the reasons I got into eOS was learn more about all this, and I’m certainly learning a lot! The learning is very enriching for me, so, thank you all!). (Apologies in advance for the long message, kindly I hope to reply to everyone!).

@Jets ah, yeah. In hindsight that would be good. Everyone I’ve phoned about this has asked me outright though, but yes, perhaps better not to say! (I have IMS and 2 APNs with the Vodafone company (as expected for the Lebara network which uses Vodafone))

@tcecyk I have learnt a lot from your message, thank you, very informative!! :star::100: the slideshow presentation is a very interesting insight into the industry side of this, and I would love to read more about the 3gpp standards in my spare time. Yep, the CMF Phone 1 is pretty new, I might contact Nothing company if this goes further, I wonder how to contact them.

I appreciate the most the weblinks, especially the last two device-checkers with the IMEI:
Both on the Telstra and AMTA links, the CMF Phone 1 (A015) is stated to be compatible when providing the IMEI number. I also found a third checker site for another telco here Optus, and it is also saying it is compatible. Although, Lebara provider doesn’t use Telstra or Optus (it uses Vodafone network), I can’t seem to find an IMEI checker for Vodafone unfotunately? But, based on these other 3 links, I’m assuming hopefully the IMEI will be compatible for Vodafone also, I’m sure if it’s okay on the AMTA site it’ll be okay.

Still getting the “Urgent!” warning message every time I make a call, but, I guess I’ll get used to it for now and cross my fingers on the 7th! (Bummer about the Fairphone 3! Ah, they’re hard to get access to one here anyways, if I had one, I’d be sure not to go near any redbacks! :spider: :spider_web: :stuck_out_tongue: all jokes aside, we do have a lot of kangaroos in our area, and any car incidents is not good for the roo or the car, so, better to be safe and have emergency access! :kangaroo:)

@naillig59 oh! Is it happening in Canada too? :disappointed_relieved:

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@helpVoLTEAU

Did you check APN settings, what is in there?

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@Jets, yep. As noted in prev., aside from IMS there are 2 APNs each with their own settings for the Vodafone network (one for ‘Live!’ and one for ‘AU’). May I ask is there anything in particular that I should be examining here? (protocol?), and if so, what particular settings for these APNs should I be investigating? (I use the latter AU as it is faster than the ‘Live!’ one). Thank you for the advice! :smile:

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Check with the provider if your APN setting are what they expect. Or should I say tell them what it says xxxx.apn. Is this what they expect? Also under Network and Internet click on your provider name setting cog. Is the mobile data switch ON? Or just search setting for Mobile Data, is the switch ON?

Also in your first post I notice WiFi calling is off, good idea to use this feature. In NA you have to give a 911 address (your emergency location at your home). I think your 911 is 000 down under?
Is 000 is the number you dial when you need emergency services?

Either way I recommend WiFi calling.

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Thanks so much @Jets, I see. Well, in that case, i’ll be sure to check both of the APN settings with the provider when I drop by the local store today, I’m heading there soon anyways. As for the mobile data, yeah the switch is on at the moment. I appreciate the notes on WiFi calling, so, I’ve just enabled WiFi Calling in case of any emergencies while at home (hopefully nothing bad will happen in the future and that we may all stay safe! :crossed_fingers:) You’d be right in that 000 is our emergency number over here. It’s very interesting to me that the emergency numbers are different overseas! If i’m ever in Canada i’ll be sure to remember 911!) :smile:

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When you are not at home and GPS is ON your location is read by the cell tower. For the most part I leave location OFF, if I make an emergency call I think I get a prompt that the called number is wanting my location, so I just agree and then I think my location gets turned ON. Or if you are able just turn location ON before an emergency call to 911 (NA) 000 Down under just turn it on.

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