Do you know which of the phone carriers cooperates the best in UK with ohone with /e/OS on board?
I’m interested espacially in the Internet and the Signal / Telegram based ohone calls from there 
EE or o2 or 3 ?
In DK TELMORE is fine 
So, Straight Talk works in the US, even if they’re selling you a Verizon network SIM? I’ve ordered a Teracube 2e. I’ve considered just sticking with AT&T, but I’m concerned with allowing the carrier to tinker with the phone to “bypass blocking”. I’d buy a SIM from Wal Mart, but they are the worst online retailer of anything.
It appears tracfone using Verizon wireless towers doesn’t work in the US. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 plus. I just tried to activate my SIM and port over my old number. After 3 hours and working my way up the ladder of customer service rep’s at the company, there was still no success.
It was odd, because when I would first power up the phone it would recognize the service provider and show the “Verizon Wireless” label at the top and 3 bars. Then 5 seconds later it would lose it and show “Emergency calls only” and no bars.
Does anyone recommend another “no contract” provider in the US?
I think the tracfone apn settings are still lacking in the apns-conf.xml - before you switch providers, can you enter the apn details as in that tracfone thread from a few months ago?
not sure if snowfox addresses tracfone still when writing “new MVNO”, but you can always ask per DM, the user is still active. If it works or not you can update that thread
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Hi @rgietzen, you might want to look at Red Pocket Mobile, an MVNO that has agreements with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. I can’t verify that Verizon service/device works your device under /e/, but under T-Mobile it should, as I have (3) devices with them, (2) directly with T-Mobile and (1) through Red Pocket- all prepaid/no-contract. Check your device compatibility here:
https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans/connect
Hope that helps and good luck. Let us know how you make out.
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Here are the APN settings:
Name: TRACFONE | APN: VZWINTERNET | APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri,fota,cps,xcap
But after closer examination of this thread (before I hadn’t scrolled all the way to the top), I see that Verizon is not compatible. If that is true, I can order another SIM card from tracfone, but just request the ATT or T-mobile version. Bummer is those providers don’t have as good of coverage as Verizon. But that is a small price to pay.
Hi @rgietzen. Just be aware that AT&T has (fairly) recently changed it’s specifications to one where the device has to be on their supported device list in order to work whereas T-Mobile has no such requirement- IOW the device will work on T-Mobile so long as the device is essentially unlocked GSM, hence the only “requirement” per se is to verify that the IMEI of the device is acceptable. If you’re thinking about an annual plan with AT&T, I would check with AT&T directly on device compatibility before committing. Hope this helps and good luck.
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…AND certified for T-mobile VoLTE, which can be determined by using T-mobile’s (or Red Pocket’s) IMEI checker…
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Good to know. It looks like T-mobile has full coverage in my area, so I’ll just get a tracfone SIM that uses T-mobile. Thanks.
Very helpful. Just checked and I’m good to go. Hopefully this is the last hoop to jump through to get this phone operational!
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Awesome. Glad to help.
Update: Tracfone has been purchased by Verizon and no longer allows the customer to use any other towers. So I’m done with tracfone.
Turns out T-mobile has some big gaps for coverage in my area. So it’s a bad choice.
But AT&T will work! My Samsung 10plus model N975F is supported. So I’ll just choose and MVNO that uses ATT. In theory this should work. Let’s see if it does 
In case you were not aware of this site, it might help with your decision-making process: https://bestmvno.com/compare/att-mvnos/
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Thanks. That’s helpful.
After doing some research, it seems RedPocket is an excellent choice. I’ve ordered a SIM and look forward to finally activating this phone.
Transitioning to a degoogled phone has been challenging. But I know it’s worth every effort.
You may be in for a shock, unfortunately. As I understand it, VoLTE can’t be implemented in Samsungs running custom ROMs due to their proprietary shenanigans, and VoLTE is now a requirement for activation on every U.S. carrier (and therefore every MVNO), and phone calls won’t be possible without it, especially with AT&T’s underlying network (no 2G, no 3G left to fall back to).
This is unless there have been recent developments that somehow made VoLTE possible on Samsungs.
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Awh, man. That sucks. The whole reason I finally decided to get a custom ROM is because it’s finally compatible with good quality hardware. Maybe there is another high end phone available, but I’ve been using the Samsung Note for years and appreciate what it has to offer.
I saw people mentioning the VoLTE thing, but I thought it just reduced call quality (can’t use data and call at the same time). It didn’t realize it was a deal breaker. And I didn’t even learn about that until I purchased the phone and started configuring it.
Is there a way to ask the e/os developers about this issue directly? To get an idea if there is any hope for a solution? I’m guessing I’ll encounter this same problem with legacy/os?
What do you think?
Yes, VoLTE is a hard requirement in the U.S. now. AT&T, since they went VoLTE-only, has even blocked SIMs when they detect them being used in non-VoLTE phones, or so I’ve read.
Samsung is the only unlockable phone I’m aware of that has the VoLTE problem with a custom ROM installed. You can certainly email /e/OS Support and ask about the current status.
Presumably, you could revert to standard Android, with Samsung’s proprietary firmware, but I don’t know if there are any special problems there. It would be a shame to give up /e/OS, though. Even so, as the phone is a European variant, who knows if AT&T will authorize it, or if it has been certified for AT&T VoLTE.
There are plenty of other good phones to choose from if it comes to that. As long as the model (and specific variant) you pick is certified for VoLTE with the particular carrier you want, you shouldn’t have a problem.
One other possible solution if you want to keep the Samsung with /e/OS, is to use it with a data-only SIM, then activate an XMPP account with JMP.chat (calls, SMS, MMS through XMPP). If the Note 10 is regarded by the carrier as a tablet, it will be easier to get data-only authorized by the carrier. If not, you’re looking at needing an international data-only SIM for roaming in the U.S. (so the U.S. carrier won’t complain), or else sign up to get one of JMP’s physical data SIMs (there’s a waiting list). That way, connections are possible via JMP on both wireless and while roaming on a U.S. network. (I have both JMP chat and their new data SIM; they work for most situations, but the call quality might not be superb.)
There are several threads on the above options which you can read, so I won’t derail this particular thread any further. Apologies for not noticing sooner that you were using a Samsung.
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Hi there Manoj,
I want to make a proposal to update this link: https://doc.e.foundation/devices with a big, bolded notice to say that all Samsung devices are inoperable in the USA because of the VoLTE issue.
It would have saved me a headache and might help others, as well as keep a good reputation for e/os.
I had been waiting for degoogled phones to be compatible with better hardware and I am a long time user of Samsung Note models. So when I saw it on the approved list, I purchased an unlocked Note 10 plus with the correct model number. I installed e/os successfully and after a couple weeks of configuring and getting it ready for use, was disappointed to discover that there is no way to make the phone work as a phone in my country.
Is this the right place to post this? Or somewhere else?
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Checking if there are other users from the US complaining about VoLTE on Samsung devices. If there is a consensus, we can add a warning on the Samsung device specific pages.
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