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 
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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.
Time for an update! My Mint Mobile sim (T-Mobile network) seems to work as before. So 4G and 5G data work fine. For calls, the phone still switches back to H or H+ (i.e. no VoLTE) and this still does not always go well. The situation for the foreign eSIM on the AT&T network also remains unchanged. I am not sure if T-Mobile already pushed their changes to the network or if that is ongoing right now, but I will keep a look at it and report if anything changes.
I did contact T-Mobile customer support and asked if they supported FP4 based on my IMEI. See their reply below. If I have some spare time, I might spar with Mint Mobile / T-Mobile to see if they want to enable VoLTE support for FP4, but that might be an uphill battle.
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Hello!
I live in California and recently bought a Fairphone 4 while I was in Europe. I purchased the Fairphone because I want to support this awesome company and desperately want to reject planned obsolescence in the electronics industry.
I’ve tried three carriers (ATT, Mint Mobile, and now T-Mobile) and had issues with all of them. T-Mobile has been working the best, but it still has some issues that make it almost unusable. This forum post is my last-ditch effort before I go back to some other phone that was designed for use in the USA 
Calling and Texting work well enough. My phone is almost always on E or H+ network (3g) with unusable low speeds, but if I cycle airplane mode on and off (so it has to re join the network) about 50% of the time it will “latch” onto 4g or sometimes even 5g. It will then stay on this faster network until I turn off my screen (a few minutes of inactivity), or move locations. I’ve tried this all over the bay area with the same results. It seems to be extra bad at maintaining network while moving-- on the train I barely get any data at all. Even if I latch onto a 4g network it will disconnect 5 minutes later.
Sometimes even when the phone claims to be connected to 4g it has extremely slow speeds-- like <1 mbps download and <100 kbps upload, with 60ms latency. Sometimes with H+ I can actually load websites no problem, other times it is impossibly slow (can’t even send whatsapp or signal messages).
OK, my question for the wise oracles on this forum:
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Does this sound like an issue with permissions in my phone, or in the network? If it’s something within the phone I’m hoping people here would know how to fix it (someone suggested maybe battery saving measures? Like the phone is switching to lower power antennas too often?).
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Has anyone successfully used the Fairphone 4 in the USA? If so, how?
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Is there some way to force which antennas the phone uses? If I could just turn on only the 4g or 5g antenna in my phone, I think it may work (and keep the 3g off). But this sounds like a hokey solution…
Thank you! Any help is greatly appreciated.
Eric
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Hi and welcome. From the comments above it seems T-mobile is the best network you could pick. As VoLTE does not seem to work (or does it work for you?) I would disable it in the settings. You could try to force 4G only by calling *#*#4636#*#* however that would cause issues for phone calls when no 4G calling available. Maybe disable at least 5G by selecting 4G/3G/2G?
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I want this phone a lot but I use Verizon’s truly unlimited plan so switching to any other company wouldn’t really get me the same experience kind of sucks
I had to configure my APN settings manually to improve my connection and get to the situation where I am right now. I got those settings from Mint mobile support. Just FYI, my situation has not changed much since my last post. I was actually in the Bay area two weeks ago, and I also had to toggle airplane mode to reconnect and re-establish connection so now and then, but your situation sounds worse.
Interesting that you mentioned the bad connection while moving, for example in a train. I did experienced that too, but I don’t think I have that much problems with that in NC anymore, maybe also due to the APN settings.
I use the FP4 as my main phone and except for calls not coming always through, it works fine for me. So I will keep using it. At a moment when I am less busy, I might bug Mint/T-Mobile to see if VoLTE can be allowed for FP4. I am also looking forward to the official FP4 LineageOS build and to see if that negatively impacts the connection quality or keeps the connection more stable. LineageOS is obviously not going to solve the VoLTE problem since that is caused by the carrier.
I have been having serious issues with getting texts and voice to work in many areas (FP3, NYC and Maryland, T-Mobile). I think it’s because of 3g phaseouts
I noticed some comments about toggling airplane mode to trigger connections. I will see if that works when I experience problems.
Toggling airplane mode helps and will usually get SMS working again
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Hi all!
I live in Italy and have happily owned a Fairphone 3 since 2020; in one month I’ll be moving to Los Angeles and working there until June 2023. I wonder if I have to purchase another phone or if my Fairphon3 will work fine, and/or if some network operators might work better than others. Does anyone have experience with a Fairphone3 in that area? I don’t mind not having 5G, but I’d like to be able to do Whatsapp calls and things like that + I like going hiking so I’m also interested in how the connection works out of city centers…
Thank you!
Hi and welcome to the forum.
I have no experience of the US but you can do research
- Check which networks are available
https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/Best-Cell-Phone-Plans-carriers-in-los-angeles
The above page is well out of date but you get the idea > search for up to date info - Check the bands each offer
- Read up on the bands and frequencies the FP3 can use.
Open up the Network section to see the bands and frequencies
Compare to those offered in LA etc.