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  • AndrewT 564 posts

    Any mobile gurus who can answer this one?

    In Florida my Three PAYG sim card offers two networks, both of which have different issues.

    AT&T – good 4G data and SMS, but cannot make or receive calls.

    T-Mobile – calls and SMS ok, but no useable data (shows E instead of 4G).

    45 mins with Three support resetting various unrelated options achieved nothing apart from the helpful advice to manually switch networks as required.

    No calls means it tries to connect for 30-40 seconds, but then drops out with no ring tone or recorded messages. I do have the LTE setting enabled, can’t find anything else relevant, and received the usual ‘Welcome to the USA text on arrival.

    PeteM 920 posts

    I just use Airalo in the US, O2 is similarly temperamental and life is too short…

    davefl 2,006 posts
    AndrewT 564 posts

    I thought the APN was for data only, which is working on ATT, but either way trying the ATT specific settings breaks it completely ☹️

    Will try playing with the T-Mobile APN later.

    Sandgrounder 69 posts

    https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/United_States has a full list of frequencies used by the operators, is your phone compatible? I used to have similar problems with three in the US until I upgraded to a top spec Samsung. It used to work in different areas depending on which mast it was connected to.

    AndrewT 564 posts

    If it was that obvious it wouldn’t connect to the network in the first place.

    omicron 74 posts

    I had so many issues with Three (both in the UK, US and elsewhere), I just switched to another company for my UK number and use Airalo when travelling

    Jill Kinkell 220 posts

    Airalo annual world wide has been brilliant for us. A bit of a fiddle to set up but definitely a fan . Used USA, Singapore, Thailand Vietnam Hong Kong, Europe, North Africa without a hitch

    Cranzle 333 posts

    I had so many issues with Three (both in the UK, US and elsewhere), I just switched to another company for my UK number and use Airalo when travelling

    I too have many issues with Three when roaming, I will be moving.

    davefl 2,006 posts

    Airalo annual world wide has been brilliant for us. A bit of a fiddle to set up but definitely a fan . Used USA, Singapore, Thailand Vietnam Hong Kong, Europe, North Africa without a hitch

    Airolo was a nightmare for me in Zimbabwe and Botswana. They had no relationship with the avilable networks in Victoria Falls and the Chobe area, took a lot of wrangling to get credit for the sims I bought for those countries.

    Now I find that for LATAM they are 2-3.5 times more expensive than the competition.

    Before that they’d been fine. Going to try Maya Mobile next week £15 against £51 from Airalo for the same 5Gb/30 day, will report back.

    Sandgrounder 69 posts

    If it was that obvious it wouldn’t connect to the network in the first place.

    It’s far from obvious, or it’d be working just fine!
    How about giving the phone model number?

    Sandgrounder 69 posts

    It sounds like you aren’t compatible with the 4g bands used by t mobile and you can only connect on 2g. I imagine AT&T is experiencing a problem with VoLTE, but sounds like they went through those settings with you?

    AndrewT 564 posts

    Moto G22 running Android 12 (dual sim, no e-sim), but I wasn’t expecting anyone to get in to detailed diagnosis. I was asking if anyone else had experienced similar strange partially working in different ways on different networks situations, and managed to overcome it. The G22 is documented as not working with CDMA (not that I know what that is), but 4G/LTE should be OK, and it also later got a good 4G connection on Verizon.

    If it is a hardware compatibility issue then it seems unlikely that an alternative or local sim would make a difference. The only LTE setting I could find was On or Off.

    In principle the Three PAYG sim offering 12GB free roaming for a month for a £10 data pack is a good deal, and it has worked well in several other non-EU countries (I have EU roaming on my primary Vodafone sim, but not US so didn’t try data on that over there). If the Three sim doesn’t like the US I will investigate alternatives for future use.

    Michael C 887 posts

    We’ve been using Three in the US for years.
    I have a legacy contract, but bought a sim
    for my son on the last trip and it worked
    perfectly for data (didn’t make any calls).

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