PinePhone Carrier Support
Please help to review and edit this page or section. Information are subject to change.
This page contains hints on setting up cellular network connectivity for specific carriers. For more general information, see Modem and carrier support. For the APN settings see PinePhone APN Settings.
Check compatibility
To check if the PinePhone is supported on your carrier:
Search for your carrier on frequencycheck.com and compare the carrier's LTE/GSM/WCDMA frequencies to the PinePhone's supported frequencies (listed in the modem specification sheet).
It is likely that there will be a few frequencies that your carrier uses which are not supported by the PinePhone. Not all of the carrier's frequencies need to be supported by the PinePhone for it to work - as long as most of them are supported, you will still get good coverage.
Tested and working carriers
The following is a list of carriers which has been tested by users and confirmed to be working (excerpt):
Asia
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | SoftBank | Not tested | Unsupported by carrier | No | No | Mobian Phosh, December 2020 |
| Japan | Rakuten Mobile | Unsupported by carrier | Unsupported by carrier | Yes | Yes | Mobian Phosh, January 2020 |
| Japan | Rakuten Mobile | Unsupported by carrier | Unsupported by carrier | Yes | No | Manjaro Plasma Mobile February 2021 |
| Japan | Docomo | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | Mobian Phosh, February 2021 |
| India | Vodafone / Vi India | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | DanctNIX (Arch Linux ARM) with Phosh, March 2021 |
| South Korea | KT | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | Manjaro Phosh, June 2021 |
Africa
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | Test | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | TestOS with Phosh, 20201129 |
Europe
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | Telenor SE | Not tested | Not tested | Yes | Not tested | Manjaro Plasma Mobile beta2 |
| UK | Three | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | Manjaro Plasma Mobile beta2 |
| UK | Vodafone | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | ALARM & pmOS (Phosh?), modem FW latest - 26 Feb 21 |
| France | Orange | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | Manjaro Phosh Beta6 and later - 9 march 2021 |
| France | SFR | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes | Manjaro Phosh Beta6 and later - 9 march 2021 |
| France | Free | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Not tested | ArchLinux - 30 July 2021 |
| Czech Republic | O2 | Yes (only on 2G) | Not tested | Yes | Yes | Mobian Phosh (20210517 image up to date) - 2 June 2021 |
| Germany | Congstar | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes (IPv4 & IPv6) | Mobian (Megi's kernel 5.13.0-rc4, apt up-to-date) with Phosh, 2021-06-07 |
| Germany | Telekom | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Not tested | Mobian Phosh (5.10-sunxi64), 2021-07-28 |
| Hungary | Telekom | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes (IPv4) | Manjaro Phosh Beta 12, 2021-07-30 |
North America
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | T-Mobile | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | MetroPCS (T-Mobile) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | T-Mobile | Yes - buggy | No | Yes - buggy | Yes - buggy |
|
| USA | Mint Mobile (T-Mobile) | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | Verizon | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | Verizon | No | No | No | No |
|
| USA | Verizon | Not tested | Not tested | Yes | Not via gui |
|
| USA | Verizon | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Not via gui |
|
| USA | Verizon | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | Verizon | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes |
|
| Canada | Freedom | Yes | Not tested | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | FaithWireless (AT&T) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | Consumer Cellular (AT&T) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
|
| USA | Google Fi (T-Mobile) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
|
South America
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | Test | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | TestOS with Phosh, 20201129 |
Australia / Oceania
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | Test | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | TestOS with Phosh, 20201129 |
Middle East
| Country | Carrier name | SMS working | MMS working | Calls working | Data working | Tested OS (with version) and UI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Israel | Cellcom prepay | receive+notify | NA | ring+ notify | NA | on PmOS Sxmo May 14 2021. |
| Israel | Golan TC | receive+notify | NA | ring+ notify | NA | on PmOS Sxmo May 14 2021. |
| Israel | Partner prepay | receive+notify | NA | ring+ notify | NA | on PmOS Sxmo May 14 2021. |
| Israel | Pelephone prepay | receive+notify | NA | ring+ notify | NA | on PmOS Sxmo May 14 2021. |
| Israel | Hot prepay | receive+notify | NA | ring+ notify | NA | on PmOS Sxmo May 14 2021. |
| Israel | 019 prepay | No | NA | Bars only | NA | on PmOS Sxmo May 14 2021. |
Special carrier notes
Some carriers might support only certain frequencies or might require certain settings in Ofono or ModemManager. The following is a list of collected notes for carriers regarding special settings, hints or information:
USA
AT&T
According to this page, AT&T's primary bands are 12 and 17 - 700ac and 700 MHz respectively. The PinePhone seems to work out-of-the-box with AT&T. If you transfer a SIM card from another phone you were using with AT&T, you need to activate the PinePhone through AT&T's website. Calls and SMS messages work. VoLTE is as yet untested.
However, it is likely AT&T will drop support with their network upgrade in the near future like their child company Cricket Wireless already has. This page lists their supported devices for their new network.
Consumer Cellular
Consumer Cellular is a MVNO that uses both AT&T and T-Mobile networks. On the AT&T network LTE data works without special configuration. If you transfer a SIM card from another phone to the PinePhone, you may need to contact customer support in order for them to register the IMEI association to the correct hardware; in one case it was first incorrectly identified as a Samsung Google Nexus Prime before later being correctly identified by the modem model Quectel EG25-G. Customer support also explicitly enabled VoLTE on the device. After VoLTE instructions on this site were followed and APN instructions on the Consumer Cellular site were followed, VoLTE was confirmed working.
Cricket Wireless
Cricket wireless is a MVNO that uses AT&T's network. VoLTE was fully supported, but the PinePhone is no longer considered a compatible device in the US by the carrier (as of March 2021).
SimpleMobile
SimpleMobile is a T-Mobile prepaid MVNO operating in the United States. 4G LTE, VoLTE, data, and SMS all work on the PinePhone after activation. Activation can be done online without extra software or assistance, go to https://www.simplemobile.com/activation/byopcollectsim and make sure you have your SIM card and IMEI ready.
Sprint
Sprint is currently not supported due to unknown reasons. Any input regarding this issue is highly appreciated.
T-Mobile
According to this page, T-Mobile's primary frequency band for the United States is 12 (700ac MHz).
T-Mobile's bands and protocols are summarized on this page.
While the PinePhone's modem does support all LTE bands that T-Mobile uses in the US (And is one of the best choices for band support with the PinePhone's modem in the US), VoLTE is still listed as "Under development" by the modem manufacturer. T-Mobile's system also does not list the PinePhone as a compatible device due to this lack of official VoLTE support. The modem is capable of working on T-Mobile with VoLTE support enabled.
Verizon
According to this page, Verizon's primary frequency band for the United States is 13 (700 MHz). Verizon's bands and protocols are summarized on this page. According to the same page, Verizon might restrict their network to only approved devices.
Some users reported that they were able to activate their Verizon SIM by using an Verizon-approved burner phone and then inserting the SIM into the PinePhone.
Google Fi
Only T-Mobile service works currently, not US Cellular or Sprint. The APN is h2g2. Information from the forum.
Bear in mind that initial activation of the SIM card is not possible without an Android phone running Google Apps.
It should also be noted that Google uses a non-standard MMS implementation that is unlikely to be supported on the PinePhone at any point.
Europe
Telekom Germany
With low signal, there may be loud interference noise audible in calls on the receiving end. It has not yet been tested whether or not this problem is carrier specific. An easy fix is extending the modem antenna with aluminum foil (or similar) inside the back cover of the phone.
Known issues
Known issues:
- The FrequencyCheck model page does not list either Pine64 or the PinePhone.
- T-Mobile's system does not list the PinePhone as a compatible device due to the lack of official VoLTE support from the manufacturer, despite the fact that it does work.
- MMS doesn't currently work in any distribution on the PinePhone by default. This means images and group chats will not work in text messages.
- Some providers may allow only certain known devices identified by their Type Allocation Code.
MMS workarounds
These scripts allow partial MMS support on a PinePhone:
- JMMS: [1]
- silvermms: [2]
- MMS via Matrix with mmmpuppet: PinePhone MMS with Matrix
There is a Haskel MMS client. MMS can also be manually composed with mmsd on the command line.