I have had a SIMple service plan from Purism for about two months, and calling and data has worked with my Librem 5 until today. This afternoon when I tried to place calls to three different numbers, I got an automated message, “The call you are attempting to place is not allowed from this line. Please dial 611 for customer service…” When I called 611, it was an automated AT&T support line. Data is no longer working, either. Is anybody else having issues with Purism service (e.g. AweSIM or SIMple)?
I hope that’s not a bad omen.
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I have not experienced that specifically with my AweSIM service. Could it be tied to you using your months total data allowance?
No, because it’s unlimited calls and texts (which also aren’t working).
Doesn’t mean that there isn’t a bug tying the two. I’d contact Purism and confirm your service didn’t get shut off for some reason.
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It’s been over 30 hours since my email to Purism support regarding my SIMple service issues (which have continued since Saturday afternoon, and it’s now Monday morning), and no response. Before somebody here says, “Check your junk folder!” I’ve already done that.
Its a holiday weekend.
I am aware of this. I am also very aware that consumers (such as myself) still need to use phones during holiday weekends. If any main cellular provider excused not taking care of this sort of issue because it’s a holiday weekend, that would be completely unacceptable. I was willing to support Purism monthly with the SIMple service plan, but this is showing me yet again that Purism doesn’t understand how to take care of their customers. At this point I’m contemplating giving up on the Librem 5 altogether and going with some sort of AOSP phone with service from a legitimate provider.
I understand your frustration, I’d be annoyed too if my phone wasn’t working. But a tech support response over weekends/holidays is not an expectation I have. Purism is a small company comparatively speaking and their employees deserve time off just like everybody else.
Personally, I have had very positive experiences dealing with Purism Support, usually getting a response next day or sooner during regular business hours.
Agreed about Purism, but in my opinion, there needs to be at least some level of customer support for their MVNO at all times, now that the company has elected to create it. It’s about safety, as well as convenience.
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Not to disagree with the idea that it is frustrating and potentially dangerous not having a working phone but, for troubleshooting purposes, are you able to try a different SIM?
Also, are you using VoLTE?
I’m not sure, but I can say that data isn’t working, and I think VoLTE is completely irrelevant when it comes to general mobile data.
I don’t have another SIM I could try.
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From Purism support yesterday:
Hello John,
We were able to recover the number.
Can you test your SIM card now
I tested and confirmed that calls, data, texts, and MMS are all working again. It’s a bit ridiculous my number would be lost and unusable for 6 days, but Purism did finally recover the number, so that’s better than it being forever gone.
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Some issue with att, I would assume, but its cool they got your number back for you.
It’s possible Purism didn’t pay the bill. Recall that Purism is acting as an intermediary between the carrier (ATT in this case) and the user. This is one of many risks involved in having a middleman.
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Unlikely because if that were the case, it would affect more than just the OP.
Speculation is probably a bit pointless but maybe a fat-fingered person accidentally cancelled that one service. That could be within Purism or within the wholesaler.
You’re assuming that Purism is paying one static bill. They are clearly paying for
a list of active sims+numbers. If there is anything I’ve learned about Purism client
service, it’s that they screw those things up all the time. Think of all of the oddities in
the delivery queue.
It’s worth pointing out that these things should be expected when someone is acting
as your intermediary. The product was sold with the benefit of “anonymity”, but that comes
with the baggage of having an intermediary (you can’t port a number in, you probably won’t be able to port a number out, client service isn’t 24x7 and will often require, pun intended, a sad “game of telephone” with support [https://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Telephone-Game]).
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