I contacted tech support yesterday. After escalation and 24 hours, this evening mrssages from last two days started arriving. No changing settings or rebooting since yesterday. Just cleared up without input from me.
I’ll try again to get TMO USA Tier 2 support to tell me what they did to resolve this.
thanks for the update, i will consider upgrading as soon as they release the flashable version.
btw, i have to ask: when you dont get an MMS, do you restart ofono, and disconnect/reconnect wifi?
also, when you dont get an MMS, do you receive the initial message (this shows up as ‘Downloading’ or ‘Problem with MMS’ in the conversations app), or do you receive nothing at all, no indication that you have an MMS.
for me, i get the initial SMS saying there is a message, then mms-engine attempts to download it and uses the wrong dns or ipv6 settings, and then it fails. restarting ofono + reconnecting to wifi usually fixes it and it immediately downloads.
i have always found that calling tmobile is worse than useless, and honestly im afraid they will do something to permanently stop me using sfos
I’m with you, @teleshoes . It usually just says there’s a message, fails to download, and unless I mess with settings, reset Ofono or all connectivity, it won’t download.
thanks cyberlyra. ras72, i put forth the hypothesis that calling T-Mobile is, in fact, useless, and that your problems resolve by themselves in the geologically slow time it takes T-Mobile to notice that you exist. (i can tell you that tier 2 tech support service representatives at T-Mobile have never struck me as particularly useful creatures, as the last time i talked to one that claimed to be an engineer and a networking expert, i had to explain what IPv6 was.)
the next time you have mms troubles, try and resolve them in the normal way, by shaking your phone, screaming at it, turning it off and back on again, and/or restarting ofono+wifi.
Hi. Great, detailed questions.
When I have the problems, the symptoms are that SMSes come and go properly. I’ll have notification that an MMS is coming, then Downloading happens for a while and after some minutes eventually stops trying and reports “Error downloading”. I’ve tried rebooting numerous times, changing the Data and MMS access point settings, WiFi on/off. I’ve never tried just restarting the ofono service. I downloaded nofono to do that on the go while driving. I’ll see how that goes.
Here’s the conspicuous thing for me - I only have this happen when I’ve traveled overseas and come back, or like this week, performed the O/S update. It doesn’t happen frequently.
And the last time it happened without me traveling, my son’s phone also stopped working. And once I called T-Mobile, waited the 24 hours-ish, then both our phones started working. When wife and other sons tolerated SFOS, I had a sample size of five with which to work and troubleshoot which helped me identify one-off anomalies versus trends or potentially carrier-induced outages.
But I shall try your suggestions the next time this occurs. Thank you!
@Raz72 I’ve also had this problem when I return from overseas! I don’t get it either.
Also agree with @teleshoes on T-Mobile calls. At least they’re very friendly though.
I usually cancel the download & retry it. It then works for me on Tmobile.
Hi USA User can you tell me what phone do you have that is working here in the US and what carrier? I don’t need 5G I just want to use Sailfish again to make calls and send SMS and MMS. I just ordered the pine phone pro but I may just send that back and get a SONY but I am not sure which one.
I use to have the beautiful X2A but it stop making calls when the shut down 3G.
Thank you so much in advance for any help with this matter.
Xperia 10 ii on US Mobile or other T-Mobile MVNO is your best bet.
I use 10iii on t-mobile in Denver CO. Usually works fine but sometimes drop from 4G to 2G which requires restart. Also constant problems with downloading MMS as described above.
Sony Xperia 10iii and 10ii, both on T-Mobile.
If you want to try with a 10ii, I’m happy to send you one for free. I think I have two sitting on a shelf still sealed.
10iii was a better experience, IMO.
I’m working on getting this configuration so I hope this question isn’t too off-topic.
I bought an Xperia 10iii on Ebay. It said it is unlocked and yes, I have been able to unlock the bootloader and install Android 11. But, I want to make sure everything works before I install SFOS. I put my T-mobile SIM card from my Moto phone into this Sony and it doesn’t work. It shows that it is on the T-mobile network, but it won’t connect. I called T-mobile support and they say that it is carrier locked, but don’t tell me which carrier has it locked.
T-mobile support did tell me that it is compatible with their network and moving the SIM card phone should simply work. Now I’m wondering if it’s a problem with signal bands, but support said it should work.
Do I need to carrier unlock this phone or can I proceed with installing SFOS and it will then be unlocked (effectively?). Since T-mobile support says it is carrier locked I suspect it will not work under SFOS either.
Thank you for your help.
Ah, well, nevermind. I’m going to ship this phone back to the Ebay seller.
I went through this with a spare Motorola G-series and could not break carrier lock. Yes, ship it back.
Hi Ima,willing to buy this from you.
Huh, I was able to buy a license with an American credit card with no VPN…
-this changed a few years ago, but it was the case that you needed to use a vpn. i used tor a few times.
there was NEVER a problem with using USA credit cards/etc, it was just an IP address source country check for your browser connection.
now, however, you dont need anything special, you can just buy a license from the USA.
Greetings! First post here - I have decided it is time to take privacy seriously, and found Sailfish when looking for alternatives to the Google ecosystem. I know gmail has to go (Proton mail seems the obvious choice, but I’ve only just started my research); I want to ditch Google Photos (maybe through network-attached storage, we’ll see how that goes); and while digging into that, it struck me that it kinda all has to start with replacing my Galaxy S10e, as I’m learning that it is quite the tracking device (!). That brought me to either a de-Googled Android OS phone or something running Sailfish. I have sooooo much to learn before I’ll be comfortable deciding, but I like to tinker, and it seems like an important step to take. So far I’m liking the idea of Sailfish, but I figure it doesn’t make sense to pursue it if it is going to be un-workable for the US.
All that to say this: I read this post from May 2024 onward, and it looks like there has been trouble with MMS. With two teens in the family we do a lot of texting, so functional MMS is a must. I’m on an AT&T MVNO right now, but could change that in the future if absolutely necessary (though I haven’t been thrilled when I have looked at Tmobile’s coverage maps in the past). Are there any updates about how MMS is behaving in the US these days? I saw in another thread on the forum (C2 Jolla Community Phone - 4G LTE bands/channels/frequencies - #4 by attah) that the new Jolla C2 phone doesn’t have any of the US bands, which makes me shy to hope that there might be any appetite to have SFOS play nice in the US now or in the future, so I’m worried about building a reliance on it, even though it seems like the OS I’d be most interested in as I make the transition away from the Googleverse. Any thoughts or advice of any kind would be most welcome!
sort of? i finally have MMS working to my satisfaction (tmobile in NY), but probably not to your satisfaction. i have to turn off wifi to download them. this is likely because of IPv6/CLAT issues, that may well be solved soon.
i am not SURE that AT&T will not work, as it did work for me once in 2017, but they CLAIM that it will not ever work. i’ve been on T-Mobile ever since. please let me know if your at&t reseller works on a 10 III for VoLTE, but i assume that it will not and you will have to switch.
yes, the C2 is not a viable option. there are exactly two options for SFOS in the USA:
Sony Xperia 10 IIISony Xperia 10 II (worse in every way, except if you live in one of the very few places that uses LTE band 12 on T-Mobile. i hear it might be just one small area of one state. anyway, the 10 II works fine on VoLTE but you have to configure it)every other device lacks VoLTE support (which is required to make calls without 2G/3G support) or lacks the T-Mobile LTE bands, including the C2.
note: the 10 IV and 10 V will likely eventually be good candidates, maybe even by the end of the year, but they aren’t ready yet. they also will never have 5G support in the USA.
i hear the fairphone 5 port got VoLTE recently, but as far as i know, they still dont have waydroid (or aliendalvik), although that might not be a deal breaker for you.
as for thoughts and advice, i have been on sailfish (or maemo or meego or mer) as my primary and only mobile device since 2011. it was fantastic until i had to switch devices because of 3G dying around 2017, and i have had various connectivity issues ever since. i’ve mostly gotten through them, and as a diehard foss+linux enthusiast, i find that it’s worth it for me overall. however, if you’re just looking for better privacy+security and otherwise smooth sailing, maybe try GrapheneOS.
Hi there! Long Long Time US user here… Started with the Jolla Phone and still here. But Man it’s a stone cold struggle!! I am not going to lie… MMS nor phone work well here on East Coast T-mobile in my city (Mid-Atlantic State)
I have Red pocket an I bought a T-mobile Branded sim from T-Mobile, both are a no go,
The Phone does not play an Outbound Call Ring Tone.
People I call Hear an Echooff themselves or My voice turns Robotic
I miss calls alot, I miss SMS a lot… some time my SMS will not go out.
If I don’t Reboot the phone after a few days It stops taking calls and I can’t call out. No one can call in, they say they get fast busy or it goes direct to voice mail. I guess it gets Unregistered from the network. So I may go 3 days without calls or text before I even notice it.
This is my Second 10 III, my first one was single sim, this is one I am on is duel sim. With past version of the OS things were better on the single sim The Duel sim is just full of hard nopes for me.
But I refuse to use apple or android so I just deal.
If I am honest, most people would not not recommend this phone here in the US. I could be wrong but My Phone and T-moibile are not working well together.
In the screen shots I can’t get pictures or group messages because they come over as MMS.
When this month is up and the sim expire (Both are pay as you go). I will Try AT and T and see if I have better luck with MMS and phone service.
But another reason I would say no to Sailfish here in the US for the Avg User is that the dev team seems to not give any you know whats regarding the US market.
The don’t seem to care about feedback from US users nor do they offer any solutions. But they did make some sort of computer box thing with their R&D time…so they have talent and time But their phone OS is still broken.
To be fair to them, this phone OS is not built for the US market so if you use it. You will just have to roll the dice and get lucky like Teleshoes or be unlucky and be in My Shoes…
My Dislike for Apple and Google keeps me using this busted OS…
Without a doubt sailfish is beautiful to look at. Its very elegant and different.
I do hope that one day… it will live up to it’s full potential as a viable alternative.
