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What US carriers will this phone work on in the future?


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The big three phone carriers are about to shut off service for any phone not approved by them.  This would include this phone.  What are the plans to get this phone approved by the big three?

 

Example:  https://www.xda-developers.com/t-mobile-att-require-volte-phone-calls-shut-down-3g/

 

US support of this phone is about to be non-existent.  I hope someone is trying to get these phones approved for use on our carriers.  This is the main reason I have no ordered this device to date.

 

List of approved phones for AT&T for example:

https://www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/pdf/Devices-Working-on-ATT-Network.pdf

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Well, it's way past January 2021 and I have been using my Pro1 on T-mobile just fine, and now, while the Pro1 is being repaired, I am using my Pinephone just fine on T-mobile.  This is prepaid-- I can't speak to post-paid. 

From what I can tell, AT&T is most dead set on it being an approved phone.  Verizon is somewhere in-between.  As long as a phone has VoLTE and a SIM  muled in an approved Verizon device, it can go on the network, but then, for some people, things will stop working, while others seem to have good success.  T-Mobile seems only to care if it is VoLTE although, chances are, if you use the on-line "will my phone work" it will likly say no, but it will work anyway.

That's my experience, anyway.  Both the Pro1 (and presumably the Pro1x) can do VoLTE as long as the OS turns it on or lets you turn it on.

I don't think FxTec is big enough to jump through the hoops required by the US carriers when they don't run into this problem in much of the rest of the world. If they do, it will be a nice surprise.

 

Edited by Hook
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  • 2 weeks later...

My attempts by email to get FxTec support to do something about it / work with AT&T have fallen on deaf ears.  They don't seem to care nor have made any indication that they have actually tried anything.  Last response from them was "They seem to be white branding the major brands so unfortunately the Pro1 will not be listed."

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2 hours ago, KingOfTerrible said:

They seem to be white branding the major brands so unfortunately the Pro1 will not be listed.

Which seems to be true-- not much they can do about that.

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On 2/2/2022 at 3:40 PM, KingOfTerrible said:

My attempts by email to get FxTec support to do something about it / work with AT&T have fallen on deaf ears.  They don't seem to care nor have made any indication that they have actually tried anything.  Last response from them was "They seem to be white branding the major brands so unfortunately the Pro1 will not be listed."

AT&T used to be the carrier with the most phone choices about a decade ago.  I remember recommending to my company to ditch Verizon so that we could go to AT&T and have more device selection for the engineers.  Now they are becoming the complete opposite.  It is what it is I guess.

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On 2/2/2022 at 12:51 PM, Hook said:

Which seems to be true-- not much they can do about that.

Maybe but the approve list has brands / single model phones I've certainly never heard of so I don't see how fxtec couldn't get on the list too if they actually tried.

Pepperl+Fuchs: Smart Ex-02 ROW
Punkt: MP 02
RED: Hydrogen One - (H1A1000/H1T1000)
Schok: Freedom Turbo XL (SFT656128)

source: https://www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/pdf/Devices-Working-on-ATT-Network.pdf

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FYI, I finally found an actual date for the AT&T shutdown, Feb 22 2022.  Looks like I will know in 20 days if I have to switch to T-Mobile or get a new phone.

 

I got myself a 99 cent Mint Mobile sim card off amazon which comes with a free 7 day trial / 250 mins / 250 text to test out the T-Mobile network coverage.

ATT has my imei registered as an att branded blackberry priv (which is on the approved list) since they don't recognize the fxtec imei in their system (invalid)...but of course they know what my sim is actually in.  Only time will tell at this point.

Screenshot_20220204-020543.png

Screenshot_20220204-020342.png

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  • 4 months later...
23 hours ago, Mitty Sleeze said:

@KingOfTerrible any luck on mint? Im thinking about getting the pro1x when it comes out and in the early research stage of this rabbit hole. Struggling to find a USA company that I can trust will not put me through hell with coverage. All help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

It worked okay on Mint (Tmobile network) during the 7 day trial.  I only used it sparingly to test service in different areas around where I live and didn't encounter any problems.  I am still using my Pro1 on ATT.  Even though they sent me a text over a month ago saying my service no longer works, it has continued to work just fine in 4G LTE only mode.

 

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I got My Pro1 back.  I decided to not steal  my T-mobile sim back from my Pinephine plus keyboard (mostly because it requires removing the keyboard and the connection is finicky), but T-mobile is no longer offering the $15/month plan w 1 GB data so I went to Ting Mobile for my Pro1.  They even claim the IEMI is supported (my theory is if you type any random set of numbers and letters in there the decision tool will say you are supported 😄 ).  They have a plan that is $10 for unlimited calls and text and 5$ for each 1GB of data, which works out to the same as the T-Mobile plan.  The SIM is identified as T-Mobile, though that may depend on location.  Works great, no fuss or muss, right out of the box. 

Edited by Hook
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