This firmware version is the only thing I can see that is different than others who are reporting success. That app is telling me that volte is enabled, I’ve got it in 4G only, mobile data happy, and dialout group is assigned…
I did a fresh OS install on this last night, took everything I’ve learned over my past week of ownership, and I will agree, VoLTE for the 202109 firmware is not working properly for me. It appeared to work the first time while running the check. Ive called from both phones to and from, and it will only make and receive calls in 2G. The dialout group is set properly, Ive installed the latest VoLTE .deb pipeline tools and they are in my App drawer, etc.
How do I go about getting the 2019 firmware you speak of to test it?
I don’t know where to find the 2019 firmware either I saw a reference to a purism repo that might have had it, but I think it is private because the link comes up as a 404 for me.
So annoying because I feel like I’m so close to getting this to act like a phone again, but missing one simple thing. I’m surprised there aren’t more conversations about this because I would think it would be happening to all the backers that are getting their phones recently.
I was keeping an eye on this thread and decided to try it out. I did the same procedure you described and I too have the firmware ending 20210907. It still drops to 2G or 3G to make a call despite VoLTE stating its enabled both gui and terminal command
Without having any other good ideas on how to move forward I talked with Mint Mobile’s (US MVNO for T-Mobile) support line to figure out if my IMEI was blocked from VoLTE calls. After some digging around they said this modem should have no problems on their network. Which is good because that is also what the T-Mobile IMEI checker reported too.
Not sure where I’m headed next, but at least it seems like back to thinking it is something to do with the modem configuration, not network blocking…
You have to keep in mind it appears many BM818-E1 users appear to have success in Europe. I use my A1 on Mint with no success so I am going to retry my E1 modem on Mint tomorrow and see what happens. I tried using my Pixel’s IMEI and Mint didnt like that unfortunately. So I ruled that out as well.
One missing element of this task, is in the communications (or lack of it) between Purism and the network operator. If you are an MVNO, you work on a much higher level with the network operator. The Engineers at the very top (far above any phone owner customer service level), work together cooperatively to make everything work. Information, code, and more is all shared until the MVNO phones all work flawlessly. Purism needs to be an insider, not an outsider in this process. Kyle needs to be able to call someone (a top-level Engineer) at the network operator and get both answers and support. This is another reason why Purism needs to become an MVNO. Purism will never catch up with the current technology, when they’re having to guess and hack from the outside, what should be a collaborative resolution to a technology integration gap. More than anything else, this practice of living as outsiders to the network operators, could lead to Purism’s failure in the long-term.
Yes, users have used the E1 modem with VoLTE in different EU countries. Also carriers in the US are phasing out 3g faster than European countries.
To be a bit more specific we had users reporting using VoLTE in countries like UK, Germany, Czech Republic and few other countries that I cannot remember at this moment.
In the community wiki there is this page where different users reported their tests with their carriers.
@dos do you know if Pulseaudio it already patched for VoLTE too for HD Calls?
The new Sound Pattern for L5 really feel the improvement… but i feel it need more hz output…
Thank you.
Good news from Germany. After updating the modem firmware to version 20220930 together with Joao from Purism Support, I got VoLTE up and running with Vodafone.
It still doesn’t work for me, even with the updated modem firmware, on Deutsche Telekom network…
I think the key aspect for testing is: you make a voice call - if it stays on 4G then VoLTE is working - if it drops down to 3G or 2G (or the call doesn’t work at all) then VoLTE is not working.