VoLTE on Samsung Devices

/e/OS Devices Samsung
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Voice calls, received and made have stopped working with ‘Three’ and my s9+ here in the UK.

‘Three’ advise devices need to support VoLTE.

My other phone, an S9, with ‘ee’ is working fine.

I started another thread:
Why is S9 on Android v12 e/OS v2.3 and S9+ Android v10 e/OS 1.14

Seems the S9+ is lacking an OTA upgrade (can’t see that this should cause the ‘Three’ lack of 2G connectivity though, see below)

I read on this thread:

Samsung phones do not have a VoLTE/VoWifi (IMS) stack outside their original Firmware as of 03/2023 and thus aren’t expected to work with any carrier.

Other threads suggest Samsung phones will not work with certain carriers, have i just been lucky then ?? I understand there is a legal requirement for 2G to remain.

Simply because the Samsungs do not have VoLTE, should not mean the S9’s will not be able to text and make calls, albeit on 2G, and my S9 proves that they can - I have tested both phones with my ‘ee’ sim and they work fine.

‘ee’ state they are not retiring the 2G masts.

I understand all voice and texts go over 2G, only data goes over 4G, so confused why my phone (S9 on ee) works fine, but the S9+ does not, I would have thought ‘Three’ support 2G, many old folk on old pagers, coffee machines and a large number of devices still rely on 2G anyway, and I understand they will not be phased out.

Any thoughts to clear the confusion appreciated.

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

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According to this, Three UK doesn’t have a 2G network, unlike EE.

If Three has also already shut down its 3G network, then calls can’t work. I don’t know why texts wouldn’t continue to work on 4G, though.

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That link is very helpful, I suspected they might have turned it off, so we have Vodaphone or EE - with no plans to retire 2G as UI understood.

The comment regarding Samsung phones needing to be retired - can be misread, that ony applies if you are unwilling to change provider, and go to one that does not support 2G.

I’m quite happy with 2G call quality, VoLTE seems overly clear in my honest opinion.

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It is still true that Samsung phones will not work on networks that require VoLTE.
According to this article from the UK Telecoms regulator

2G will be switched off by 2033

All the mobile providers have confirmed to the Government that they do not plan to offer their 2G (and 3G) services beyond 2033.

We expect that mobile providers will start making plans to switch off their 2G networks at some point after they have switched off their 3G networks. None of the providers have set a specific date yet - EE has said it will switch off 2G ‘later this decade’.

So Samsung phones running Custom ROMs don’t have much of a future in the UK. Definitely worth remembering when gyou next come to buy a phone)

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Great article, thanks.

For now all good, though ‘later this decade’ will race up before us I am sure.

Am I right that the Samsung IMS (VoLTE) is proprietory, and it requires reverse engineering to create the code, and no one yet has cracked that ?

Interesting articles out there, people are trying:~
https://xdaforums.com/t/research-wip-possible-volte-enablement-for-samsung-devices-on-aosp-based-roms.4664947/page-3

I am interested to know how VoLTE will work with e/OS on other devices, has the code been successfully reverse engineered, or is the code made available by some other route, how comes it works on them, excuse the lame question.

So the ‘Custom ROM’ model with Samsung devices has me with a Gotcha here, so I need to go find a device compatible with e/OS and that e/OS supports VoLTE.

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Yes it is proprietary, and people - some very clever people- are working on reverse engineering it. But definitely no ETA yet for a solution.

That depends on your device, your location, and your mobile network operator: the necessary software is in /e/OS and should work so long as it is supported for your non-Samsung device, by your operator in your location.

It’s not a lame question. VoLTE has been available in LineageOS, and LineageOS-based custom ROMs for a while. I don’t know for sure how it got there, but I believe that there is an open-source implementation from AOSP which most manufacturers (except Samsung) have chosen to use in their devices. The low-level, device-specific software / firmware (binary blobs) needed to work with the AOSP implementation can be extracted from devices (or taken from TheMuppets github repos) and used in custom ROMs. The binary blogs in Samsung ROMs work with the Samsung proprietary implementation and won’t work with the AOSP implementation.

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Three or 3UK (Hutchison) have switched off UMTS on 24th September 2024.

I have purchased Sony Xperia 1 III due to this event. It obviously runs on e/OS 2.4-T (from 29th September 2024).

Samsung may have support for VoLTE, but I am not involved in e/OS at all, so cannot say whether there is a plan to include FLOSS IMS. IMS for Samsung exists now, but it is supported by single custom ROM.

I have full support for IMS functions on Sony Xperia 1 III (pdx215)
VoLTE, VoNR, VoWiFi - all confirmed to be fully working.
I am still on 3UK, as I have very good SIM only contract (just £17 for all-you-can-eat everything)

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Yes, Sony devices are great :slight_smile:

@Rob1971 when you do get round to looking for a replacement device, its worth choosing s manufacturer that is ‘friendly’ to custom ROM developers. I would include on that list

  • Sony: great devices, most have an SD card slot, supported via the Sony Open Devices project - a must-have for me
  • Fairphone: sustainable, working closely with /e/ -ve: not brilliant specifications for the price
  • Google: no Android or custom ROMs without them, good quality and specifications, long term support.-ve: no SD card slot, they’re Google, the source of all the evil in the world :wink:

I would exclude Samsung, Xiaomi, LG

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So basically choose a Sony for your next phone :slight_smile:

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Yes, 3UK had a great bundle - if you eat a lot of data: 40gig, unlimited calls and texts for £10, but no 2G, as of last week…

But checking today it seems Vodafone now have a 50gig data, unlimited calls and texts package for £10 also, and they support 2G with no

Will check out the Sony’s and Google offerings, I liked the ‘easy installer’ but as my choice is narrowed, time to look at the manual install procedure for e/OS, which I’m sure is not that complicated.

But all good for the time being :slight_smile:

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How about 100 GB of data and unlimited calls for 5 Euro/month? That’s my carrier offer. He has 2G and no announced plans to drop it.
I don’t really care for VoLTE but truth is voice quality is better and you can’t use a single (dual sim) phone if your company’s carrier drops 2G (3G was dropped everywhere).
I have a bunch of Sony XZ2 (premium and regular)a and a XZ3 that don’t support VoLTE; and same for my S9+ not on original ROM.
Google phone are all single SIM (as I don’t want to use eSIM).

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100gig, as always we will look back in just a few years at what went before and laugh at the data allowances …

Which brings me onto a question … is ‘e-sim’ a 5G thing, which for privacy is a terrible idea ?, Rob Braxman did a Youtube on it as I remember … to avoid ? …

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No.

Meanwhile, I use only about half a gig of mobile data per month. LOL!

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‘e-sim’ - yes, I need to watch that Rob Braxman youtube again … I think I conflated both 5G and ‘e-sim’ !

This has a list of basic ‘advantages and disadvantages’ listed further down the page:

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Hi Rob
Thanks a million for posting this. My S9+ suddenly stopped making and receiving calls last week and I’ve been tearing my hair out!
I’m on Three UK.
And of course Three never had a 2G network in the first place.

Basically it’s over with Samsung and Three then (with e/os)

“Will check out the Sony’s and Google offerings, I liked the ‘easy installer’ but as my choice is narrowed, time to look at the manual install procedure for e/OS, which I’m sure is not that complicated.”

If you’ve never done it before be prepared- I’ve done it twice and it’s never easy.

You have to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in.
I’m thinking of getting a OnePlus 8 Pro to replace my S9+

Thanks again!

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Sonys are typically super easy. But you need a Sony that is certified for VoLTE with your particular carrier; not all of them have been.

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there’s a software implementation of IMS on github. e.foundation seems at least aware of this effort. It didn’t move beyond prototyping but reportedly works. There were two ROM builders (see insights->forks) who had a go at integrating, wonder how that went. You’d need to build the java app to test. @ronnz98 fyi if you’re unaware of this for your Samsung builds.

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Do you have more information how to include this implementation in own builds?

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So I just tried my SIM card in my old Gigaset GS290 e/os (what a great budget hanset) and …same problem, no making or receiving of calls. I thought this was a S9+ and Three UK problem.
Maybe the Gigaset is not VOLTE either. EDIT: It is VOLTE compatible.

Now I’m really confused.
How can I get another device that I know will work with Three UK and e/os?

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@ronnz98 here’s a writeup, there’s also a telegram group mentioned to ask questions

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