Fairphone owners in the USA (FP2 FP3 FP4 FP5)

Do you have VoLTE enabled? Is it working? Indicator icons should show it, at least on default Android.

I don’t see an option in Settings to enable VoLTE. It does not show on the screen, just “T-Mobile” and the signal strength. Not sure if it’s active.

Make a call and check if the FP stays in 4G.

I used my Fairphone 3 on AT&T until last September when I switched to T-Mobile, to test things out ahead of the planned February AT&T 3G shutdown. Since then we’ve found T-Mobile’s service to be patchy in our area (upstate New York) - the towers around us mainly run 2, 4, 12, 66, 71 (per cellmapper.net) so it looks like we’re only catching bands 2 and 4. Our phones do roam and pick up AT&T service in places where T-Mobile doesn’t work (AT&T seems to run band 2 a lot in our area), and (as others have noted) we can send and receive text messages when on AT&T, but we can’t make or receive phone calls.

I did go back to our local AT&T store to try an AT&T sim again after their full shutdown in February/March, and had the same experience with the AT&T sim card - texts work but no calls. The guy there told me that even though my phone does have service and accesses bands that are available in that location on AT&T (it says AT&T LTE at the top), the phone tries to call on 3G first, then when it doesn’t connect to a 3G network it gives up and the call hangs up. I don’t know any more about how that’s actually happening or whether it’s something either AT&T or Fairphone could change - does anyone else have any technical insights around that bit of information?

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Fairphone would have to pay AT&T for certification to be allowed access to their VoLTE network. They block devices not on their master list. There’s no technical limitation, however.

Linking another user report for T-Mobile

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I am very interested in getting a Fairphone 4 for use in the USA. I just need to know if it is compatible with Google Fi service here?

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You may be blazing the trail. I don’t see any other Google Fi users for this handset in the Community.

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I’ve been juggling other responsibilities with getting my new FP4 configured.

Well, today while working a 2nd time with T-Mobile tech support have successfully configured my FP4 with a T-Mobile eSIM. Unfortunately, VoLTE and VoWifi still are not provisioned. The menu options are not found under Settings->Network & Internet->T-Mobile->Advanced. I interprest this to mean that the network has not yet provisioned either feature.

At the conclusion of the eSIM configuration with Tmo tech support, I asked if they might be able to manually enable either VoLTE or VoWifi (wifi calling). A trouble ticket has been opened for this and they will call me when they can determine if this is possible.

I then added a nanoSIM for my Canadian Freedom Mobile service and am relieved that I can now use the FP4 in dualSIM (eSIM+nanoSIM) with both services active (yay!).

I was in California last week and discovered a few locations in the LA area where there was only 4G/5G coverage. No 3G coverage was found in some places. In these places, voice calls while roaming in LA on T-Mobile with Freedom Mobile Canada all failed as there was no 3G fallback to complete a circuit switched voice call. This was due to the absence of VoLTE configuration on the Freedom Mobile Canada service. My next step will be to contact Freedom Mobile tech support and determine if either feature can be provisioned on their network for the FP4.

I’ll be back in touch here should Tmo ever contact me about this.

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Can someone please confirm that the FP4 does support VoLTE and VoWifi (wifi calling) when provisioned by a network to do so?

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Yes, of course (Orange France for example).

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Good to know.

T-Mobile US will shutdown 3G by July 1 this year.
After that, this phone will not make voice calls without VoLTE.
I hope T-Mobile can succeed with provisioning it on the FP4 by then.

Thanks

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Why not? 2G is still working and no date is confirmed for a shutdown.

2G coverage is very limited and, when available, only on main highways and interstate.
It is uncertain if these carriers are supporting voice calls, perhaps on a limited basis. The primary application of the 2G coverage is for IoT devices.

As mentioned, I found plenty of areas in LA where there was already no 2G or 3G coverage at all.

I got it to work on Tmobile but had an error 50 SMS error because they were blocking this product in the USA with it being a new phone. After struggling to find a solution on Tmobile’s forums and this site, one call to their help line cleared up the fact that it was blocked and needed to be unblocked and IMEI registered. They walked me through it and the SMS works. The data 5G automatically was working before the call, so the only issue was SMS going through and receiving. Everything works now.

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Great you received it and it works. I allowed myself to move you comment about TMobile funcionality to this topic to have as much information as possible combined

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Using FP4 here in SW PA just fine. Tried Verizon first as that is what I was on, then Comcast, after neither worked i tried T Mobile and it worked line a charm. Trying Pre Paid first to see how it goes, first month so far so good.

Also +1 to using Clove.

I’ve had so many people ask me about the phone :cowboy_hat_face:

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You are using on T-Mobile US?

I can successfully operate FP4 on T-Mobile US with MMS, SMS, Data.
Success with voice calls only in areas where there is 2G or 3G service with voice support present.

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Just wanted to add that I am also a FP4 user in the US, currently in NC in the triangle area.

I use a Mint Mobile subscription (T-Mobile network) and successfully use 4G and 5G with MMS, voice, and data. No VoLTE though and for calls the phone switches back to H or H+ which does not always go well. Sometimes the connection drops completely for a minute for unknown reasons, not sure if that is software or the network.

The eSIM is registered with a foreign provider which connects to AT&T here in the US. This connection does seem to support VoLTE, but I basically never call with this SIM.

I will definitely keep an eye at what happens on the 1st of July as the 3G network of T-Mobile will allegedly be shut down.

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That’s the million dollar question.