I have tried searching and no appllicable answer.
1 do I need to install Volte on my L5?
2 do I need to install BM818?
3 I pay for 1G speed - what speed should the L5 download at (roughly)?
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Hi,
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In my case without VoLTE enabled the phone is using 2G network, which is awful and I dont recommend that.
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You need to install bm818-tools via: sudo apt install bm818_tools or bm818-tools (forgot which one). bm818 itself is your modem model.
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Depends, if youre talking about WiFi or modem. For modem its 150Mb/s for download and 50Mb/s upload.
If you want to measure the speed in MB then divide it by 8 (1B = 8b)
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Whether you need to depends largely on your carrierâs infrastructure and on the quality of coverage in your area.
Telus, apparently - and by extension Koodo, which uses Telusâ infrastructure - has already shut down 2G (GSM/GSM+), if this is accurate: A Complete Overview of 2G & 3G Sunsets â 1oT
âŚwhich means you donât have the 2G network available for carrying phone calls (or texts).
That document doesnât mention 3G networks (EDGE/UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+), which was the faster âreplacementâ for 2G. If Koodo/Telus still has a 3G network, and if it has good coverage where you live and go, then youâll have 3G for carrying your calls and texts.
Most of the world is shutting down 3G to make more room for 4G/LTE (and now 5G), so Telus will likely do the same, eventually. With no 2G or 3G available, you wonât be able to make calls without VoLTE (Voice over 4G/LTE).
The added benefit of using VoLTE for calling is that sound quality will be much clearer: in High Definition, if you will.
So:
1 What does Koodo (or Telus) say?
2 How good is your 3G coverage?
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Itâs this one.
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I couldnât get past their AI but all the âsunsetsâ mentioned in the article closed in 2023 with Telus. Koodoâs AI is worse. No matter, they shoutdown 2/3 last years by the looks of it.
That said, the L5 shows comfortable 4g. Under Settings > Mobile it shows 2g,3g, 4g preferred". I know I can set it to 4g Only, but donât want to fix what works 
Zero coverage. If we can use/trust the L5 as the medium, then 2g, and 3g, have been relocated to binary heaven because it always read 4g. Coverage was great until they switched to Mesh and I could no longer take laptop out about 100 feet away, or other end of house without renting a dozen âpodsâ. I wonder why they switched to mesh. To rent pods is my guess.
Thanks Amarok.
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Dare I ask ⌠you just received your Librem 5 back from Purism Support, didnât you? Did they handle this all for you? i.e. enable VoLTE (given the nature of your support case)
Maybe get an answer on that before going to the trouble of installing the appropriate BM818 package and enabling VoLTE. If you canât get an answer on that, at least check whether the package bm818-tools is installed.
One way or the other, sooner or later, VoLTE will be mandatory in your country.
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Well, I donât want to get anyone in trouble, so Iâll just say maybe they installed BM818 but it fell off during the ride back because I donât see it anywhere.
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then sudo apt install bm818-tools
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Even though Librem is showing 4G it will not work when VoLTE is disabled, try to call someone, if when youâll be calling the network will change to 3G then you will know that its using 3G for calls
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⌠and failing, because there is no 3G to carry the call.
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I did a test and this is without BM818-tools installed.
I called from the landline to L5 the â4gâ remained constant.
I called from the L5 to landline the â4gâ remained constant.
Addendum: In Settings > Mobile > itâs â2G, 3G, 4G (Preferred)â
Edit to ad addendum.
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Everything is becoming mandatory in Canada.
AS an aside, a funny thing happened on my way to the L5.
When I tested L5 by calling to my landline, the landline displayed caller was blocked. What ever. Fixed that. 4g didnât change.
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My phone has been using 4G HSDPA for calls, as I have stated before I learned from Rogers that they do not support the L5 and will not allow it to use VoLTE. HSPDA is not VoLTE, but the call clarity is better, so I donât think itâs a guarantee that just because the phone is saying 4G that it means your call is VoLTE because when Iâm in a call and its showing 4G when I run the tool it is indicating HSDPA not HSPA which is 3G.
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I hear you but in this case there are good reasons to shut down 3G - and therefore calls must be carried over 4G (LTE).
You should install that package because it will present a checkbox for whether VoLTE is enabled. That will be the first indication of what state your phone is in. Or you could ask Purism.
You may be right but at the end of the day if the 3G network is shut down and calls still work on your phone, itâs all good. For now.
Iâm still trying to work out whether there is a more definitive check that one can make on the phone during a call (as Australia is right in the middle of the 3G network shutdown mess).
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Do you mean ask Purism what state my phone is in? Itâs OK, I already know. 
Kidding aside, I will install BM818-tools. Iâm kinda leery to do so due to âIf it ainât broke, donât fix it.â
If as raenrfm says, that Canadian carrier Rogers wonât allow VoLTE, then itâs likely Canadian carrier Telus wonât either. We keep saying to Telus to Tell Us but they wonât.
What a mesh 
~s
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Installing that package will not in and of itself cause anything significant to change.
You can run the tool to display the state of VoLTE.
Of course once you start changing the state of the VoLTE checkbox in that tool your leeriness should kick in.
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That error usually just means that there is a stuff-up in group membership.
From the terminal prompt, obtain and post output from groups
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Did you restart your phone after you installed the tool?
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I imagine they only support the duopoly phones they lease out and shun freedom.
I think they know what the L5 can do - stop the abuses to our rights to privacy.
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