Hello, it’s my first time posting on the site, I want to ask which Operator work the best with XA2 H3123 in the US. I am currently using Mint mobile (an MVNO of T-Mobile). but is having trouble as I cannot connect to LTE constantly, it will soon drop to no signal and searching after I connect to the LTE network, and there is a long delay when sending and receiving SMS, and I cannot make call in LTE as it would drop to 3G network for call, but it would soon drop the call in 3G, I can only use 2G without any trouble. making it unusable, so I want to ask what is the operator that works the best. I feel that I cannot bare Mint mobile any longer, I am planning to switch carrier after my plan ends, but i don’t know what carrier would work. I know Verizon don’t work since it requires volte, but how does AT&T perform on XA2 with sailfish installed?
I have no information for you about the operators in the USA but a general comment.
I am assuming that you have installed Sailfish OS to your XA2 as you are posting in this forum. Sailfish OS does not support VoLTE, now. And there are no voice channels specified in LTE/4G - it is just for “data” transfer (a.k.a. mobile data). Therefore, when Sailfish device is connected to an LTE network and a phone call (incoming or outgoing) needs be setup, the device is automatically switched to 3G or 2G for the duration of the call, from which it automatically returns to LTE after the call is over.
What is the problem in this? Phone calls work just fine on 3G/2G.
Yeah it automatically go to 3G when there is a call or I am making a call, but I cannot make or receive call under 3G network for unknown reason, I can only make or receive call in 2G, but the device won’t automatically switch to 2G. And the device disconnected from the LTE network every few minutes, which is very annoying, also T-MOBILE would require all device on their network support VoLTE starting January 2021.
In USA, all depends of the frequencies available on your smartphone and in the state you are.
Two years ago i made a long trip in the USA with my new XA2 h3113 bought in France. At this time my XA2 was in test before to put Sailfish OS. So it was under Android.
With T.Mobile :
- 4G LTE was ok in California, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
But i was without any network in North Dakota, Montana and Idaho. And network came back in Washington State and Idaho.
XA2 (and may be also X10) have different models and they have not exactly the same frequencies and channels available. And at this time, my XA2 was under Android.
- During this trip i was also with my Jolla 1 : no network at all (except wifi). I think that in USA all operators stop 2G network.
- And our Intex Aquafish (as Jolla C) : if my memory was good 4G LTE but il was quite tricky to have something good. No 3G. And i don’t remember with precision
And sorry for my poor english.
I can’t speak for the XA2 itself, but AT&T is the best option in the US currently if running Sailfish.
3G is going to be turned off last of all of the carriers, which means Sailfish will work the longest on it. (While I hope that VoLTE comes to Sailfish sooner than later, I know it is a complicated problem that will take time to tackle.) Also, SMS/MMS “just works” on AT&T, whereas with Mint (T-Mobile), you’ll have issues where you will only be able to send/receive messages properly if you aren’t on Wi-Fi, for instance. (Or at least that was my experience.)
The only downside for AT&T, is that they are very picky about devices on their network. You may want to activate with a newer Android phone, and then put the SIM in your Sailfish phone. Also, if VoWiFi becomes a possibility with Sailfish in the future, there’s pretty much no chance it will work on AT&T, since they only whitelist certain devices. T-Mobile on the other hand, doesn’t have these problems, as they pretty much let any device use VoWiFi.
The only annoyances I had with AT&T was the signup process itself (it got all messed up, which required an hour or two on the phone to resolve), and the fact that you get a text message anytime you do anything with your voicemail. I think you can call them to deprovision Visual Voicemail so that problem goes away, but I never bothered.
Also an AT&T user here, i will say that I have used numerous unlocked devices on the AT&T network without a problem with the new device, currently have two non-contract unlocked phones and sometimes switch my sim on two other devices, only sometimes have to call AT&T cause the sim switching frequently creates an autogenerated security check.
The 3G lost in 2022 will be a little bit of annoyance, but been on prefer 4G without dropping but that is just cause the city i am in
As of today, I can no longer call outbound with AT&T Prepaid on my Xperia 10 Plus, and all incoming calls go straight to voicemail. Calls go directly to customer service if I try to call outbound. I have set up my own phone system with Telnyx and 3CX, but I had to move my plans to port out from late August to today, apparently.
The phone indeed drops to 3G when the calls get routed to customer service, so it’s obvious that 3G still works, but that AT&T wants this non-VoLTE phone off the network.
Feb is there date for this drop they have not dropped 3G yet.
That being said I made and received a call today and yesterday without issue, that might be a geo-specific issue with ATT.
Yeah, this is probably somewhat isolated at the moment, but it’s going to become more common for anybody that is a direct AT&T customer (prepaid/postpaid, and maybe Cricket). I was sent a text earlier in the year from AT&T warning me that at some point all calls would go to customer service since I need a phone with HD voice. Prior to that, every 10th or so outbound call would require me to listen to a 30 second recording about how I need to upgrade my phone. I may have pasted this to this forum in the past, but here is the text from one of the SMS messages I received…
AT&T Free Msg: ALERT! AT&T is taking steps to shut down the 3G network, so you can do all the things you love only faster. This means your phone won’t work once 3G goes away by February 2022 and you’ll need to change it. Starting April 12, 2021, we may redirect your call to customer service to help you upgrade your phone. Some features like voicemail won’t work during this time. To learn more or upgrade now, visit your AT&T store.