I purchased a Samsung S9+ from the /e/ store with /e/ preinstalled a while back for use in the USA and was satisfied with the experience. However no mention was made that with the end of 3G service, voice calling would no longer function on it. Now I have wasted $500 on a useless phone. This really pisses me off!!!
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I very much understand your frustration, but this ain’t /e/'s mistake, but that of your provider. It simply doesn’t care for older and/or devices that ain’t part of any of their plans.
Apparently people in the US had better luck with other providers, maybe you want to change?
Changing providers in the U.S. won’t help, unfortunately. T-mobile only has 3G until July, after which all the providers will be VoLTE-only for calls. And as has been said in other threads, Samsungs with custom ROMs lose any VoLTE-capability they might have had, due to Samsung’s proprietary IMS. (At least until some resourceful dev team comes up with a solution to implement it in custom ROMs.)
It’s unfortunate for the OP and other U.S. users who have those Samsungs. The thread linked above offers at least one workaround, though. (Other than reselling to someone in a different country/situation.)
No, as @taurus said, this is very limited and no providers will accept it after a certain point.
Plus, no one buys an expensive phone expecting it to be unusable after <1 year. Consumers should not have to do this homework. Thus, there is definitely a warranty issue with /e/; the year warranty on a device no longer usable is being thrown aside aside with pretentious ignorance, e.g. No answer to three of my e-mails/Unhappy with Samsung s9+ - #25 by Ebs
I’m with you (edit: in the entitlement to a solution and accountability as to what they were thinking selling this phone beyond when thus knew it would not be unable.) Let’s give them something to think about
FWIW, I, too, had considered ordering one of the /e/Samsungs last summer…but then I read the specs, which stated that VoLTE was not functional.
The impending VoLTE requirement was fairly well publicized by all the U.S. carriers starting in summer 2020, so I realized that these phones would not be a viable option. Fortunately it was super easy to install /e/ on my Sony, which is certified for VoLTE with T-mobile and does work fine. (Most phone brands don’t have that IMS incompatibility issue when it comes to custom ROMs.)
I think i appreciate your point; it was not unknowable that this would become an issue (although i bought mine before summer)
Nonetheless, this cuts (and retreats*) both ways, i think; it’s disingenuous (to put it nicely) to sell a phone with a year warranty that doesn’t have an expected lifetime of at least one year… let alone the many years one might expect from such an expensive phone.
(*and how could /e/ know by then that the phone would not work?)
I bought the phone last spring. I don’t know if VoLTE was the thing at that time. Regardless, if /e/ were a truly ethical company, at least there should have been a big red warning at the top of the page indicating the call service would end at a certain time; at best they should have pulled the phone from the store as soon as they knew it would be an issue. In typical corporate manner they decided they have to make that dollar and not take a loss on unsold units.
I’m in the same situation with 2 S9’s. There was, for a time, a project to implement VoLTE, but I believe it has been abandoned. We moved from ATT to TMobile for now, but I know there’s really no hope for VoLTE on the Samsung to be fixed in time so we must move to another phone.
It would be nice if /e/ could offer those of us who purchased a Samsung from the /e/ store within the last year or so a swap for a Teracube 2e.
This might be of interest:
I understand the OPs frustration, but its not really Murenas (e) fault. I don´t know how much the US networks are saving by turning off 3G, we still have 2G (as well as 3G and 5G) from 1992!!!
Just checked, 2G (and 3G) due to be turned off here 31/12/2025! I will have upgraded my S9 Plus by then.
I’m guessing your here is the UK?
No, but it does seem to be most of Europe.
I mentioned the same thing via support email; if this were the exact same phone (pre-upgrade to 10 when i could still use twrp and other things) but with VoLTE, i’d have what i need (only by he g960f was affected if i recall, there were other S9 model numbers without the issue, but maybe those don’t work in the US?).
As it is i am under warranty, and the phone doesn’t work as a phone (and was disallowed as early as nov from calling won out issues, well before my warranty expired, despite the months it took to communicate about a return)b i expect to be made whole in the sense that the same phone working would be fine or (next best =>) enough money back to buy a comparable phone or (lastly =>) a phone they choose for me of comparable value.
Obviously comparable value is debatable given i got months and months of valuable usage, but i also expected it to be sold in good faith that it would last much more than just a year, i.e. amortisation is not near where expected.
"Selling devices that they knew or should’ve known would no longer provide core functionality before the warranty period had expired finally put them in a de facto position of having to honour more warranties than they were willing and/or able; but for their willful negligence (or a much less confident, more expert, and scrutinising) user base, such inability would not have existed.
@impaul
@jc6
@ An.Ri
@ HekatheGreat
The overall response from all my emails thus far: if your phone has issues, it will be repaired, which does not mean money back or trade-in…we did not advertise the phone as supporting VoLTE and don’t control US carriers…not obliged to compensate you…custom ROMs are not able to utilise VoLTE (what?? This last bit is false…)
I’m willing to be satisfied by whatever solution with which they come up, but if I’m not, then i will consider starting a small class action suit if enough others feel similarly: nothing to bankrupt the company or anything, just a punishment for what i (we?) consider misbehaviour.
Sign me up for the class action suit.
I get your frustration, and believe me if I was in your position I would be upset too, but I can’t think that a class action suit is the way to go. This is a nonprofit organization that is partially funded by donations from members of the community, that beleive in what /e/ is trying to accomplish. A lawsuit isn’t taking money out of the coffers of a giant corporation, its taking the wind out of the sails of a worthwhile cause.
I got this in an email which was not posted in the forum:
“Hello All,
I get that some people are frustrated. Indeed, I’d also feel bad if my phone no longer has coverage.
However, it seems like some of you are missing basic things like:
There is no point in contacting customer service now, you’ve spelled out that they are not going to do anything.
Not long ago enough.
No T-Mobile where I am.
I bought a preloaded phone from /e/ so I wouldn’t have to mess with this process.
You have not thought of this from the perspective of the buyer. Even if I paid less than the over $500 I paid for this phone I would expect to get years of service out of it. Who would knowingly spend $500 on a phone that would be useless in ten months.