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Smarty sim does NOT work in some new phones[SOLVED]

It does get a connection but not in my house (it should) I have to drive a bit and then It'll pick up "H" connection. A few days ago I drove on the motorway and noticed it randomly picks up 5G and 4G (before I enabled WiFi calling) but loses the connection within seconds.

I'm not sure if I can go to a three store. But another member in here said their magic5 pro works fine on smarty.
With the connection in place, can the bad device receive calls and text messages? There might already be a few received messages from activation.

With the connection in place, can the bad device make calls and send texts to a different mobile?
 
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My phone is from a UK supplier fonehouse.com

So I hope they are not selling Chinese models.

In the secret menu it says

Vendor DEF
country EEA

But if my phone had no band 20, 'three' wouldn't work? It works fine.

So is it some towers not supporting volte causing this problem? Or the phone. I am still confused.
Fonehouse.com is for sale, fonehouse.co.uk seems to only do contract phones. It's not uncommon for vendors of some phones to reflash the firmware when shipping abroad (Xiaomi for instance have global versions of thier phones, but vendors also take Chinese models and flash a 'global' rom)

If your device was sold with a contract it's possible it has a network specific ROM which has VoLTE support for some networks and not others

As others have said it sounds like some newer masts don't support 3G and without VoLTE your phone won't register as it can't make calls.
 
People are saying you need to enable "WiFi calling" aka "volte" but... These are completely different things..aren't they?
Yes. VoLTE = calls over a 4G network/3G network.
VoWiFi = calls over wifi

they are indeed different things.
 
With the connection in place, can the bad device receive calls and text messages? There might already be a few received messages from activation.

With the connection in place, can the bad device make calls and send texts to a different mobile?
I don't know now as I've used shizuku to enable volte. But, as I say, the phone calls now feel like WiFi calls as they sometimes get distorted.
 
Fonehouse.com is for sale, fonehouse.co.uk seems to only do contract phones. It's not uncommon for vendors of some phones to reflash the firmware when shipping abroad (Xiaomi for instance have global versions of thier phones, but vendors also take Chinese models and flash a 'global' rom)

If your device was sold with a contract it's possible it has a network specific ROM which has VoLTE support for some networks and not others

As others have said it sounds like some newer masts don't support 3G and without VoLTE your phone won't register as it can't make calls.
Sorry, yes.... co.uk.

The phone came with a three network sim card. Same company as smarty.

I have my smarty sim and three sim in the phone now and both receive the exact same signal after modifying with shizuku app.
 
I used the shizuku app and pixel IMS apk to enable volte.

What this did was, it added a slider in mobile networks (pic attached) called "WiFi calling". I assumed I needed to enable this here but, I have since disabled it and I still have perfect signal, even on smarty. So the shizuku/IMS method seemed to have enabled volte and gave me another option namely "WiFi calling" which wasn't present prior.

However, I noticed my data speeds aren't good, approx 8mb download in a 4G+ area. If I stick the sim card in another phone, I get 400mb in the same location.
Screenshot_20230826_155852.jpg
 
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Have you tried the SIM in another device? I had an issue when I went to see family in Poland and bought a Polish sim. I was told it was activated but it would not connect to 4G at all when in my Xiaomi, only H+. As soon as I put the SIM in my Pixel, it activated fully and connected to 4G just fine, and when I put the SIM back in my Xiaomi, it worked just fine and connected to 4G and even 5G. You may be having the same issue.
 
I don't know now as I've used shizuku to enable volte. But, as I say, the phone calls now feel like WiFi calls as they sometimes get distorted.
Let's chalk that up as a maybe that the bad device with Smarty SIM can receive calls and SMS, and make calls and send SMS. These are the best tests of a functioning mobile.

WiFi calling is using your WiFi connection instead of the cellular connection so for the purposes of testing your cellular connection, it's best to disable the WiFi connection.

With WiFi off, does the bad mobile with Smarty SIM making a cellular connection receive an IP address when looking in the settings? Does the user interface indicate no data connection, e.g. with a cross by the signal strength indicator?

Does any mobile data pass? E.g. visiting https://news.bbc.co.uk

I guess you are saying that with VoLTE activated, data now passes and you are now debugging insufficient performance?
 
Fonehouse.com is for sale, fonehouse.co.uk seems to only do contract phones. It's not uncommon for vendors of some phones to reflash the firmware when shipping abroad (Xiaomi for instance have global versions of thier phones, but vendors also take Chinese models and flash a 'global' rom)

If your device was sold with a contract it's possible it has a network specific ROM which has VoLTE support for some networks and not others

As others have said it sounds like some newer masts don't support 3G and without VoLTE your phone won't register as it can't make calls.
Just to chime in on this and clarify - Fonehouse phones are all sold unlocked and unbranded with generic ROMs - The same stock is distributed no matter if you sign up with Three, Vodafone, TalkMobile or even buy from them SIM Free. This has been the case for about a decade now (They used to be a T-Mobile specialist and previously sold T-Mobile retail stock back then)

To help keep costs down, a number of the phones they supply come from other markets. I have an iPhone from them that is Japanese (can't silence camera shutter) and a family member got a Samsung Galaxy device from them which had a sticker on it saying words to the effect that it was imported, 'modified' and that Samsung had been notified of this for warranty purposes. Unfortunately I don't know what country that one originated from however.
 
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Right guys,
Just got myself a latest flagship phone, honor magic 5 pro.

And I already have a smarty unlimited sim. Unfortunately, I'm unable to get it to work on 4G or 5g despite having a three network sim that does work fine in the same phone. Done all the checks relevant, everything.

Smarty say its my handset.
Handset manufacturer say its the network.

I stumbled upon this post...


Which tells me, it's the network and not the phone. Am I right?
How old is the sim card, as they have been using less and less voltage as the technology improves.
 
Well strange now I’m having the same issue as others. Gets 4G for a few seconds then straight back to H+. I did see the 5G logo but this only gets me 4G speeds and checking I’m not actually connecting to the N78 5G network for some reason
 
I want to thank everyone's input on this topic, I've received really good responses and advice.

I can happily say that ive successfully enabled WiFi calling by just installing a couple apps. No need for a pc or rooting. Now I have WiFi calling option in the sim card section of settings. Not sure if it'll disappear on the next sw update but, even if it does, it literally takes 5 mins to enable WiFi calling again.

Very happy

Quick question... WiFi calling is different to how other sim cards connect to the tower in this phone, right? Because during a call I noticed that it sometimes gets a bit distorted, like it would on a WhatsApp call. Also, if they turn off 3G next year, would that affect me?
How did you do this?
 
How did you do this?
You need shizuku app from the play store.

Then you need pixel IMS app which I've uploaded to my g drive..

Then just follow a step by step tutorial or video like this..

When you connect everything and open pixel IMS app you will be able to enable volte in the bottom left corner.

The whole process shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes. It's that simple.

You can delete shizuku and pixel IMS after you've done it, it won't affect anything.
 
Last edited:
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You need shizuku app from the play store.

Then you need pixel IMS app which I've uploaded to my g drive..

Then just follow a step by step tutorial or video like this..

The whole process shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes. It's that simple.
i tried this "patch". didn't work for me. Pixel 6a. not too worried but yeah , am not planning on buying another pixel tbqh.
 
What went wrong exactly?

You night need a different pixel IMS apk.
VoLTE and VoWiFi don't work for me on three with my pixel. Never has.
 
VoLTE and VoWiFi don't work for me on three with my pixel. Never has.
But what issue did you have when following the supplied guide and files? At what point was the stumbling block? Because, the apk was initially made for the pixel phones.
 
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