Can I gladly fill out the bugreport however I already had contact with the support.
@zks1 I assume you are not with telekom germany or?
I also got a replaced modem and email support.
correct I’m in US.
I too had success getting VoLTE calls working, following these instructions for support:
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wget https://cloud.puri.sm/s/zjFYPqq4dNmanRG/download/bm818-tools_beta_arm64.deb
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sudo apt install ./bm818-tools_beta_arm64.deb
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run the bm818-volte app from the app list
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check the “enable volte” checkbox
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reboot
I’m in the U.S. using carrier Consumer Cellular, on the AT&T network.
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I’ve added your results to: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Cellular-Providers
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Hello. I just wanted to let everyone know who didn’t know that VoLTE works well for Mint (T-Mobile mvno), for me, in the United States. Could you update https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Cellular-Providers ?
Also, thank for the instructions Laubster. Awesome.
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I’m not sure about Mint. but, as a direct T-Mobile customer, the VoLTE works really nice for me. Even from my basement, I can make calls and hear well. There can be some latency, so you both can’t speak simultaneously. the once call where I was having a problem with that, I didn’t try to leave my basement to see if that would make a difference. But, overall, phones calls have been great.
I do still encounter the modem suddenly disconnecting at times. and, it is problematic for me to use VPN and the suspend mode together. So, I don’t use the suspend mode yet. Waiting for more improvements on the suspend (resume from suspend more specifically) before I’ll use it.
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Did you apply bm818-tools_beta_arm64.deb? I am on Mint (T-Mobile) and 2G coverage in my area is only slightly worse than 4G coverage. In fact, the call quality on the L5 is so much better than it was on my PinePhone (and the automatic audio switching works!) that I don’t think I care about 4G so much – at least for now. But if you had a good experience with the beta tool, I feel better about applying it when I decide to.
Hi. Yes, I am using that tool. It has greatly improved call quality in MOST areas. I am happy with that. However, I did want to note that I have a antenna booster at home due to poor cell coverage. I am not sure, but it does not seem to be playing well with the after-market booster. More experimenting is in order.
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Was it better before you enabled volte?
Hello:
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For non-booster use the VoLTE enabled has definitely made call quality better.
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For the booster use at home: I am not sure yet. It seems to be conflicting with it a bit. The cell coverage may have been better prior to enabling VoLTE. I might have to admit that it is worse at home with the booster. But I haven’t really played with it a lot at home yet.
The calls are clearer overall with VoLTE enabled. I believe I have less dropped calls as well, overall.
I believe I read that VoLTE only works with 4g or 5g? My cell coverage at home is often 3g or even 2g. That is likely the issue.
You would need to know what “G” and what band is being boosted. It would be possible, yes, that with a booster (or even without a booster), enabling VoLTE would result in poorer call quality at your home. You could investigate that (maybe) by forcing the Librem 5 to a specific “G” in turn and then looking at the signal strength.
It is unfortunate that VoLTE can only be enabled / disabled in the modem with a reboot - because otherwise it would make sense to have the Librem 5 disable VoLTE automatically when you get home and enable it automatically when you leave home.
(If you have decent internet at home that is not via the mobile network then a fun future option for you could be “WiFi calling”.)
It is stronger than that. The “LTE” in “VoLTE” means 4G.
The point is that when 4G was introduced for data, calls were still made over 3G or even 2G - so the phone would drop down one or even two generations each time a call was made or received. VoLTE is an attempt to unify voice and data (which has several advantages, technical and financial), thereby allowing the 3G and 2G networks to be shut down, and the frequencies reallocated.
(I don’t have 5G available to me yet but I would be highly confident that 5G isn’t going backwards in this regard. That is, if you were in an area with 5G and no 4G then VoLTE would mean “voice over 5G” - even though VoLTE in that case is technically a misnomer. However there would be very few places in the entire world, if any, that have 5G and no 4G, yet.)
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Great reply. Thank you.
My booster at home boosts 2g, 3g, and 4g. I think that must be the issue. If I am following your reasoning, because VoLTE is on 4g, when I enable VoLTE at home, with the booster, I cannot connect to 2g or 3g. Because the signal is not great for any of the “g’s”, I am limiting myself to only the 4g “boost”. I am therefore missing out on calling on 2g and 3g when VoLTE is enabled.
The good news is that I can simply “disable” the VoLTE with the tool.
I am going to experiment more. I am happy with enabling VoLTE for Mint, in total.
Yep
Yep.
You also need to check into what specific bands, for the 4G in particular, are involved in the boosting - and check that against the bands supported by the modem variant that you have. I would assume that it’s OK but …
Doesn’t that require a reboot though?
(Presumably this could be fixed in the BM818 if the manufacturer saw fit. I guess, however, manufacturers envisage a time in the near to medium term future when VoLTE is the only option, so the ability to enable and disable dynamically has limited applicability. I know that, in my country, mobile service providers are busily improving 4G coverage and signal strength, in anticipation of switching off 3G in the medium term. 2G was switched off a few years ago.)
Great comments. I hope someone else, other than me, finds this useful. Yes, I believe I have to reboot, but doing that once when I get home from work isn’t really a big deal.
Really digging the updates that keep popping up for the this phone. I like to tinker, though.
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Voice over NR (VoNR) technology, also known as Voice over 5G (Vo5G). Voice calls and SMS require VoNR (Vo5G) in standalone 5G (5G SA) and VoLTE in non-standalone 5G (5G NSA). My carrier Tmobile USA is getting ready to fully roll that out soon.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_NR Thats whats used with 5G my carrier Tmobile USA is rolling it out
you could also download the deb from https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/bm818-tools/-/jobs/403435/artifacts/raw/debian/output/bm818-tools_0.5+librem5ci79939.828d337_arm64.deb
Bm818-tools source is here https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/bm818-tools
After installing, i have to reboot to be able to use the gui.
You do need to reboot the phone after installing the bm818-tools package to get the permissions set correctly but you should not need to reboot the phone to switch VoLTE. Switching the HKS should be enough for the modem.
For those saying the bm818-tool is showing empty firmware did you install via the deb or just by copying the app. If you copied the app you need to make sure that you are part of the dialout group.
I have tested bm818-tools witch Czech Republic OpenCall test SIM which uses O2 Czech Republic network and connection stays at 4G when VoLTE is enabled. When disabled, connection is downgraded to 2G during calls, so it seem stat VoLTE woks there. I have used only two phones from both sides of my head so I cannot say much about quality yet. There was echo problem.
Recipients of my T-Mobile VoLTE calls also complain of echoing on their side. Their voice quality that I hear on the L5 is excellent, however.