Cricket Wireless is auditing their network & disabling VoLTE on phones not whitelisted

[greatgoogly]

I have a OnePlus 6 and my wife a Nokia 6.1 Both devices capable of doing VoLTE but would not work on VoLTE on Cricket. Yesterday I purchased a Pixel 4A 5G (which is included in the AT&T list of "HD Calling"/VoLTE compatible devices). After moving my SIM to the Pixel and confirming that VoLTE was working I moved my SIM back to the OnePlus 6 and VoLTE started working on the OnePlus 6 (had the VoLTE icon lit and confirmed I could make calls using LTE). Worked great all day. Even put my wife's SIM from her Nokia 6.1 into my Pixel and then moved it back to her Nokia 6.1 and VoLTE worked on her Nokia 6.1. This worked fine all day until..... This morning when VoLTE was again non-functional on both my OnePlus 6 and her Nokia 6.1. My assumption is that Cricket/ATT is doing network auditing and if the phones are not on their Whitelist, disabling VoLTE on them in the overnight hours. It's clear that VoLTE is capable of functioning on these two model phones (and likely many other VoLTE capable phones that they are refusing to Whitelist) and that AT&T/Cricket is simply trying to drive device sales using the 3G shutdown as an excuse. Maybe I'm crazy but I plan to bring this anti-consumer practice to the attention of my local Congress people who I suspect would have an interest in this. It does seem like something that both the FCC and the FTC may have an interest in as well as IMHO it's purely a ploy by AT&T and Cricket to drive device sales. There is also an aspect to this that is anti-environmental as they are condemning many devices to leave service (and possible end up as electronic waste) prior to when they actually are obsolete. Another point is with a SIM swap triggering non "Cricket non-compatible" devices from functioning at all after Tuesday, that's a pretty bad look for AT&T/Cricket disabling peoples devices unnecessarily in the middle of a pandemic.

[mbellot]

Try toggling airplane mode.

My LG-V30 isn't supposed to get VoLTE, but it started working a short while ago (the icon just turned on one morning).

Since then I have noticed it turns off from time to time, usually overnight, but toggling airplane mode on and then back off gets the icon back.

[greatgoogly]

Try toggling airplane mode.

My LG-V30 isn't supposed to get VoLTE, but it started working a short while ago (the icon just turned on one morning).

Since then I have noticed it turns off from time to time, usually overnight, but toggling airplane mode on and then back off gets the icon back.

Your LG-V30 is currently on the ATT Whitelist which I think is the list that Cricket is actually going by (more or less), so this is why your LG-V30 is now getting VoLTE. Here's the complete list updated last week of Whitelisted phones. https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/con...TT-Network.pdf

[Sgooter]

...Here's the complete list updated last week of Whitelisted phones. https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/con...TT-Network.pdf

Thank you for posting this important list.

[Fishx65]

So it sounds like my trusty Huawei Mate SE will become a brick in 2022. Really sucks because it gets the best reception of any phone I've ever used.

[Dust N Bones]

Your LG-V30 is currently on the ATT Whitelist which I think is the list that Cricket is actually going by (more or less), so this is why your LG-V30 is now getting VoLTE. Here's the complete list updated last week of Whitelisted phones. https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/con...TT-Network.pdf

Thank you for posting that list, I didn't even know that list existed. I have a Moto X4 and I don't understand why it's not on that compatible list because it is definitely VoLTE capable. I used it for a while on Verizon Prepaid in 2019 with VoLTE.

[J Wireless]

I have a OnePlus 6 and my wife a Nokia 6.1 Both devices capable of doing VoLTE but would not work on VoLTE on Cricket. Yesterday I purchased a Pixel 4A 5G (which is included in the AT&T list of "HD Calling"/VoLTE compatible devices). After moving my SIM to the Pixel and confirming that VoLTE was working I moved my SIM back to the OnePlus 6 and VoLTE started working on the OnePlus 6 (had the VoLTE icon lit and confirmed I could make calls using LTE). Worked great all day. Even put my wife's SIM from her Nokia 6.1 into my Pixel and then moved it back to her Nokia 6.1 and VoLTE worked on her Nokia 6.1. This worked fine all day until..... This morning when VoLTE was again non-functional on both my OnePlus 6 and her Nokia 6.1. My assumption is that Cricket/ATT is doing network auditing and if the phones are not on their Whitelist, disabling VoLTE on them in the overnight hours. It's clear that VoLTE is capable of functioning on these two model phones (and likely many other VoLTE capable phones that they are refusing to Whitelist) and that AT&T/Cricket is simply trying to drive device sales using the 3G shutdown as an excuse. Maybe I'm crazy but I plan to bring this anti-consumer practice to the attention of my local Congress people who I suspect would have an interest in this. It does seem like something that both the FCC and the FTC may have an interest in as well as IMHO it's purely a ploy by AT&T and Cricket to drive device sales. There is also an aspect to this that is anti-environmental as they are condemning many devices to leave service (and possible end up as electronic waste) prior to when they actually are obsolete. Another point is with a SIM swap triggering non "Cricket non-compatible" devices from functioning at all after Tuesday, that's a pretty bad look for AT&T/Cricket disabling peoples devices unnecessarily in the middle of a pandemic.

This has been something Cricket has done for a number of years, even before they got bought by AT&T. I was a dealer that sold a lot of flashed phones, to the point that people would buy phones from me and take it to the Cricket office to have it activated. The office started activating the phones, but turned off internet and picture messaging on the accounts and would tell people that it was an issue with the phone, so they should get their money back from me and go buy a phone from them. When they would come in, I would see that the services were off on their account, call customer care and they would turn it on. Problem solved. You may call them and see if they have disabled this on your account and turn it back on. It was shady stuff like this that caused me to stop dealing with Cricket years ago. Hopefully they will change this practice since more and more people want to keep their phones and not deal with cheap or free phones on a port in that won't last as long.

[mbellot]

Here's the complete list updated last week of Whitelisted phones. https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/con...TT-Network.pdf

Thanks for the list. Naturally three out of the five phones in my house are not on it.

I'm assuming the Samsungs are AT&T variant only, which would also figure since I have an S6 and S7 that are both TMo.

[Rojniles]

I think AT&T is recognizing that if they make a lot of customers phones (that are VoLTE capable) unusable after they turn down 3G they will lose customers in droves to T Mobile

[phlack]

I have a Moto X4 and I don't understand why it's not on that compatible list because it is definitely VoLTE capable. I used it for a while on Verizon Prepaid in 2019 with VoLTE.

I have a Moto X4 as well. What does this mean for us?

[ecs0013]

Apparently if you SIM-swap to an unsupported device, your line gets suspended and even swapping it back requires a call to customer service: https://reddit.com/r/CricketWireless...nt_completely/

Seems a bit extreme, as opposed to things just not working?

[greatgoogly]

Apparently if you SIM-swap to an unsupported device, your line gets suspended and even swapping it back requires a call to customer service: https://reddit.com/r/CricketWireless...nt_completely/

Seems a bit extreme, as opposed to things just not working?

Yup, this happened to me this morning. Moved SIM from my Pixel 4a 5g to my OP6. Boom account suspended, wouldn't work in the Pixel until I called customer service. Can't believe they are suspending accounts just for putting a SIM in a allegedly non-compatible device. I've decided I'm pretty much done with Cricket. The question is are the other ATT based MVNO's required to be this restrictive on the phones that they activate?

[Dust N Bones]

I have a Moto X4 as well. What does this mean for us?

Well, I know for me it's pretty obvious. Either get a new phone that Cricket has on their whitelist OR switch to a different MVNO that doesn't use AT&T's network.

[pitflyer]

Is Cricket BYOD IMEI checker accurate? If the IMEI reports OK then it is ok to sim swap to that device? Don't want my account to suspend if I can avoid it.

[mbellot]

Yup, this happened to me this morning. Moved SIM from my Pixel 4a 5g to my OP6. Boom account suspended, wouldn't work in the Pixel until I called customer service.

This is completely unacceptable. A text to the "incompatible" (not yet really) phone to let the subscriber know it's not going to work in a little over a year would be the correct response.

Failing that, a text to let the customer know the phone is not supported on the network and they need to use a supported phone (no service, but SIM remains active so it can be used immediately after a "good" phone is obtained).

Disabling/suspending a functional and paid up SIM is crap.

I guess it's time to start looking for alternatives now so I can be done moving to a more reasonable MVNO before SHTF.