The French operator Freemobile wants to push the adoption of 4G with VoLTE and will degrade its 3G network.
On Mobian, I tried using the scripts available here to enable VoLTE on my Librem 5:
The “bm818-volte-check” script confirms that VoLTE is enabled after running “bm818-volte on”.
However, it still doesn’t work properly.
Could I have missed a step in the procedure? If so, which one? I can’t figure it out.
I believe that you have to reboot after enabling VoLTE and before it will actually work. (Technically, maybe you only have to reboot the modem but easier may be just to shut down the phone and then boot up again.)
Did you do that?
did it, but strangely, I can no longer make calls at all (I hadn’t tested it on 3G).
I wonder if it’s a firmware issue.
I have this using the command “bm818-fw-check”:
mobian@mobian:/mnt/sdcard/Logiciels compiles/bm818-tools/usr/bin$ sudo ./bm818-fw-check
[sudo] password for mobian:
chat: Oct 23 23:12:32 +BMSWVER: M100E_YCSN0_1.0.0_220926,YCSN0_M100E_1BAD_3117_V1.0.0.2_20220930,M100E_1.0.4_200715
M100E_YCSN0_1.0.0_220926
YCSN0_M100E_1BAD_3117_V1.0.0.2_20220930
M100E_1.0.4_200715
I’m completely lost
Fault isolation might at least require trying PureOS rather than Mobian. If you are careful and knowledgeable, you may be able to put PureOS on the µSD card and boot from there - so as to avoid changing anything with your Mobian install.
Additionally, if you have a SIM from other mobile service providers available to you, it may help to try them.
Reminder: Always shut down the Librem 5 before inserting or removing either a SIM card or a µSD card.
It would be great also if any other users in France jumped in with what they are using and what works and what does not work.
I notice also that the community Wiki has no details at all from France: Cellular Providers · Wiki · Librem5 / docs / Librem 5 Community Wiki · GitLab
At the place where I work in France, 4G and 5G are the only networks available (because they are the only networks provided by internal repeaters). I enabled VoLTE on my PureOS Librem5 when I got it a the beginning of 2024, and it did not work with the Freemobile and Bouygues Telecom SIMs I owned at the time.
João from the Purism support taught me how to check whether the bands used by Freemobile and Bouygues Telecom around the places where I live and work were usable by the Librem 5 modem. They were.
João advised me to try other carriers’SIMs. I tried an Orange one without success. Then I borrowed my son’s low cost carrier’s SIM, and VoLTE started to work on my Librem 5 
. It was a SIM from RégloMobile, a MVNO of SFR. The SIM I got a the time from RégloMobile still allows me to make VoLTE phone calls from work with my Librem 5 (and with my Pinephone Pro on Mobian as well).
Did you keep his instructions to test them ?
I used the Arcep site to get LTE bands supported by Free in my area, and compared them with the LTE bands usable by the BM818-E1 modem (800, 2600, 2300 and 2500 MHz). João advised me to choose a carrier which supports 800 MHz in my area. Bouygues, Orange and SFR did, not Free. But only SFR worked.
To test SIMs from different carriers, I simply tried to make phone calls while VoLTE was enabled. When I was in areas where UMTS or HSPA were available, I also checked with the BM818 tool whether LTE was active during the call (at start, I thought LTE was used because of the “4G" displayed on the top left of the screen, but I learnt that I should also check with BM818 tool to get the truth about the band used during calls).
Thanks for all the information. In both the area where I live and where my parents live, only LTE 2600 is available. I don’t think I’ll be able to make calls over VoLTE in the long term.