OnePlus Nord N100 - no inbound or outbound calling on AT&T
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Recently purchased a OnePlus Nord with the specific intention of installing UT on it. I checked the ATT list of compatible phones as this was the only supported UT phone that was also approved by ATT which was the OnePlus Nord N100 (BE2011).
Bricked the phone first time around because the N100 was on Android 11 not 10.5.2 or 10.5.3. I got it out of dump mode and flashed the global 10.5.3 version and the UBports installation went really smooth after that. Setup was a breeze. Wifi connected, text messages were working. Then I went to make test calls, nothing went through. Inbound? Nada also.
Took the phone to an ATT store near my house. The lady spent about 30 mins trying to get it to update in their system. Did some more digging around in the menu's and finally said, "Oh yeah, that's why. This is a 2G phone. We already shut down both our 2G and 3G networks. This phone is using those to connect to the 4G network." Then I told her that the phone was on the list of compatible phones. She never showed me the list, but said the list she has didn't have the phone as one they supported. She also told me that within the year ATT will be shutting down their 4G network as well and everything will be transitioning to 5G and nothing else.
I went back home, pulled the list and confirmed the phone was on the list. Called back. Spent two hours climbing the tech support ladder until I got to some senior support team. Tech support guy said when I was making calls it wasn't even hitting their network so he couldn't even log the information or debug it because they just couldn't get any information from the phone. This pretty much confirmed what the woman in the store was saying about how its trying to connect to a non-existent network.
At the end of the day, not a big deal. I'm going to throw this back on Ebay for what I got it for with UT still loaded onto it in case someone else can get it to work with their carrier.
My fear is that as UT is focused on older phone models and carriers are pushing more and more users to upgrade to 5G phones while shutting down their older networks. What is the runway looking like to support newer phones in the future? I love the idea of the UT interface and everything worked great, but are we looking at a dead end for adoption in the US if we can't port to 5G phones soon??
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Well, OnePlus Nord N100 is not a "2G phone" and should connect at least on 4G frequencies (5G is coming soon on Ubuntu Touch, may already works on a few devices...?)
The problem is that Ubuntu Touch does not yet support VoLTE (calls on 4G), and that is mandatory on almost all carriers is USA now. Maybe, only T-Mobile does still support CSD standard phone calls?
VoLTE and IMS services are pretty hard to implement due to their proprietary features, lack of documentation and carriers white lists.
However, a deep work is in progress from our core team and it will slowly be available on more and more models during the next months.There's a dedicated Telegram Group where you can talk about this. Search for "UBports [North America Carrier Issues]". You will find some workarounds and other useful information. You will also be able to share ideas with other North American Ubuntu Touch users.
So this is the status of your issue right now...
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@stanwood Thank you for the update. I went back and did some more research and needless to say, I'm less than impressed with the knowledge of the ATT people I spoke to at the store. You're right that 4G isn't going away and the way they built 4G, its basically the backbone for 5G technology so not sure if the ATT people were just fear mongering, or just didn't want to deal with an OS that was clearly very unfamiliar to them.
Its good to know UT is continuing to work on this problem. I really liked the OS. The simplicity of it, the lack of apps and ability customize it. Not to mention, its very snappy, even on older, under powered phones like the N100.
I know my post sounded negative, but I'm not giving up yet, I see a lot of potential for this OS and will continue to work it. Thanks again for the update.
