Nexus 5 vs Nexus 5x
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@rocket2nfinity
thanks for that info. I'll take your advice and have a service confirm or unlock my Nexus.
How long should we expect the N5 to be usable on any carriers given changes in their systems? -
@jjconstr l assume you're referring to the upcoming 2G conversion. Verizon is already refarming their 2 and 3G networks to 5G now. I can assume that's why they blacklisted the N5.
AT&T is in the process. Projected conversion in two years. To keep customer continuity, they have opened their VoIP (voice over internet calling also known as VoLTE) to any device on their Network.
T-Mobile was waiting for the outcome of their merger to finalize their plans. I haven't seen an official update on that. But I can assume it will match AT&T. After all, they just had a big win and will want to capitalize on their new 5G capabilities. But it will take some time, so I would expect 2 to 3 years before they convert. They have a lot of legal and technical work to do to merge their and Sprints networks.
The smaller carriers I haven't paid attention to. Some of them are likely to keep their networks as is for the foreseeable future. 5G is a big investment.
So, in short, your device will be able to make calls for two plus years, at least, depending on network. Ubuntu Touch does not currently support VoLTE that I am aware of. I am not aware of their current plans to add support. Hopefully an administrator can jump in here and enlighten us.
Even if they do, that unfortunately won't help anyone with the Nexus 5. Although it has the hardware, Google never built out software support for VoLTE on the Nexus 5. If someone does so after the fact then we'll be ok. Otherwise, the N5 will only have data and will not be able to make traditional phone calls after that point. Call capability would still be available through WhatsApp, Skype, and other services that allow dialing out through an app or web interface. But someone would need to write said app.
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@rocket2nfinity I am sure this has nothing to do with 5G. As you can see here there are a lot of older Google phones on the supported device list, but some of them are missing: https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/google/
Regarding VoLTE: We need support from the modem for this. If a phone never had VoLTE we cannot add it. Because the whole handling of a VoLTE call happens still inside the modem. We can just try to switch it on or give a preference for it. But so far you are right, we cannot even do this.
I would not make assumptions about how long a device is being supported, it might be well much longer than 2 years, as customers hopefully are lazy with upgrading their phone hardware and carriers will find out that they simply cannot turn off 3G/4G that easily. -
@Flohack Interesting. Nexus 6, but no 5X or 6P. I wonder what their criteria is...
I'm also curious as to what is stopping UT from supporting VoLTE. That, Redshift, and Swype are the only things I miss from Android.
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@rocket2nfinity VoLTE is stopped by being a vendor extension that is not documented and unique for each vendor it seems. Honestly, we have no clue what needs to be done, as I said already elsewhere, it might be the case that VoLTE works already for some devices, we just dont know it
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@Flohack Ok, I've been doing some research on what happened to VoLTE on specifically the Nexus 6P. I had it on Android. Lost it when I switched it to UT. According to the official ofono documentation, it is available. Under ofono.radiosettings it is set to technology preference=lte which means it is VoLTE capable. According to the documentation it would say umts or GSM if it was only capable of LTE data only.
It is not on because under ofono.radio.settings it is set to: Bearer=cs-prefered. If I'm reading this correctly that is. I'm quite a bit rusty regarding ofono and AT commands, so I'm not quite sure how to switch it.
Maybe a setting under cellular could be added to trigger the ofono command to switch from cs-preferred to ps-preferred?I also noticed ofono.callvolume -
MicrophoneVolume=0
SpeakerVolume=0
Muted=1So, since this is Android cobbled to Linux, not sure whether it can be unmuted via amixer or somewhere on the Android side because pulseaudio says module 11 ofono volume 100%
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@Flohack Would you happen to know where I can find the radio settings info that used to be in the dialer menu that popped up after dialing ##4636## in Android? I'm specifically looking for the info on what radio bands are available and in use. It would be really handy to have that info available under cellular settings in UT. Is that possible? It would be handy to have all the info in that menu available somewhere if possible.
Edit: it's star pound star pound 4636 pound star pound star. For some reason the forum is deleting the star...
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I've also put way too much effort into figuring out why Version does not support the N5, 5X, and 6P. It has to do with changes to the cell bands, specifically 12,13,17. Only the Nexus 6 still meets the physical requirements for the bands and radio software for VoLTE. But the 6P can be added back with some software modification. So it can still do VoLTE as can the N6 and the Pixels.
However, that would make the N6 or 6P prime replacement candidates for the N5 - if there's ever a breakthrough with the N6 halium port.
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So, if I've got this right, for a device to have VoLTE, it appears a few things have to happen:
1 - It must have a sip capable modem. The N5 and later do.
2 - It must have radio software to activate that sip service and software in the OS to turn it on (Enhanced LTE setting in Android for instance). The N5 never got the proper radio software. The N6 and N6P does. UT doesn't have a setting to enable Enhanced LTE i.e. VoLTE (which appears to be the ps-preferred setting under radio settings in ofono in place of cs-preferred which is the old circuit switching 2g phone network).
3 - It must have band 12 or 17 for VoLTE on AT&T, band 12 for T-Mobile, band 13 for Verizon. N6 and later do. And it must be capable of transmitting and receiving full duplex on both the 3G and LTE bands at the same time. The N5 does not have a diversity antenna and cannot do this. VoLTE was activated in China on the N5 despite this because they were not as concerned with a smooth handoff, but American carriers require it.
4 - The network provider must white list the device on their Network. Verizon will only white list the N6 and the Pixels. AT&T has recently white listed any device that has service on their Network. T-Mobile allowed the N6P to access VoLTE until 2018. At which point, Verizon forced Google to update the radio software to disable VoLTE. However, on XDA-Developers there is a fix to get it back by flashing an older Android 6 radio and then upgrading back to 7.12 or later. Many posts on XDA and Reddit state that T-Mobile will let the 6P back on VoLTE after that. The radio we are using is from the time period where VoLTE was active - 7.12. So it might just be necessary to turn on packet switching preferred (LTE/UMTS auto PRL preferred network type) in this case.
Now the next question is how to add that and wifi calling to Ubuntu Touch. I miss wifi calling and VoLTE.
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@rocket2nfinity Sorry I dont think thats possible at the moment with UT...
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@rocket2nfinity Adding those things its not easy, currently next to impossible. As I said already, that code is deeply buried in the vendor binaries, we dont have any source code, and, because its not a standard communication with the modem, ti is also nowhere documented. That´s what you get with a closed ecosystem
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@Flohack The plans of mice and men - according to the following article, T-Mobile has announced they will shut down their 2G and 3G network in 2021. So this VoLTE problem may be more critical.
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@rocket2nfinity said in Nexus 5 vs Nexus 5x:
The smaller carriers I haven't paid attention to. Some of them are likely to keep their networks as is for the foreseeable future. 5G is a big investment.
Is it possible that some of the smaller carriers may maintain their systems as is, indefinitely, allowing use of the N5 on their networks, indefinitely?
Also, an update on my UT adventures: Got another N5, installed UT with fewer hitches. Once it said "lost connection". I change USB ports, retried. It went to recovery mode on the phone and finished fine, restarted in UT fine. Previously with my first N5, I initiated recovery mode manually when connection was lost repeatedly. That completed the installation fine from there. It was a pleasure!
I noticed on my second N5, the android desktop was a little different. I suppose due to different software versions.
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@jjconstr Yes, very likely the smaller carriers and other carriers around the world will leave their gsm/cdma networks on. This is just a U.S. problem with competition between the big three (lets be serious, Dish isn't really going to be up and running for a long time on their own network).
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@jjconstr Curious how your other service providers worked out or are you stuck with AT&T?
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@rocket2nfinity I don't know how USA carriers do manage their network operators. In Switzerland situation is as followed:
2G situation:
GSM 900/1800: Being stopped (between 2020 and 2022)
CSD: Being stopped
HSCSD: Being stopped
GPRS: Being stopped
EDGE : Being stopped3G situation:
UMTS: Upgrading to HSPA
HSPA: Active
HSPA+: ActiveNote: No shutdown nor coverage reduction is expected in the near future
4G situation:
LTE: Active
LTE - Advanced: Active / deployment running5G situation:
Deployment running. (3,5- 5GHZ).
Note: Some GSM 1800 cells are being upgraded in 4G sites
So 3G will continue for some years here. From my knowledge no device is banned from either network (3 operators).
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I've been talking to a member on the Pinephone forum. Another candidate to replace the N5. He just confirmed that the Pinephone is running VoLTE out of the box and is already whitelisted on Verizon. He's running Debian+phosh not Ubuntu Touch, but maybe it will help in figuring out how to get it working under UT.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=9150&pid=64020#pid64020
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@rocket2nfinity
Will activate a Nexus 5 on consumer cellular this morning. Phones that have been on ATT typically work with them. They also have a no charge policy if not satisfied. Signal with ATT right now is 2-4 bars depending on location or inside or outside house. I suspect ATT has done some improvement to their equipment. I wasn't expecting that much. -
@jjconstr Consumer Cellular uses both AT&T & T-Mobile networks. Good choice to maximize your connectivity options.
Here is a list of others that uses multiple networks:
https://www.androidcentral.com/which-mvnos-work-more-one-carrier
https://www.androidcentral.com/8-important-considerations-when-switching-mvno
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@rocket2nfinity
Still haven't activated on consumer cellular. Sim card they sent turned out to be wrong. waiting for a new one. Att is working well on my other N5. Sooo nice to be free of the interferances of Android! Thanks for freeing me!Update: Have activated on Consumer Cellular. It was equal to ATT's signal strength for a couple days. Then today, nothing worked but text. Tried calling, was on hold for 70 minutes before hanging There were negative reviews with bad signal and service. Maybe they were down.
