So It's True That The Cell Phone Industry Sucks After All

[Clueless Guy]

Thanks to you guys for a couple years I had a Dorophone that I was perfectly happy with. Completely satisfied. But then the 3G era ended so I had to start over with a new phone. Ok, that's life.

H20 - my carrier at the time was H20 so naturally I reached out to them to change over to 4G. But, even though they had YEARS to prepare for the 3G transition, they failed to do so. So their support staff was completely swamped by the end of 3G. It took them literally two months to reply to my many support tickets. And when they did finally reply it was just one message that was non-responsive to my questions, and not at all helpful. When I finally figured out maybe I could contact them through their Facebook page they deleted both of my messages within minutes.

RedPocket - So I gave up on H20 who seemed to be melting down, and gave RedPocket a try. In my very first contact with them on eBay I specifically asked them if their SIM would work with my phone. They said it would, so I purchased the SIM. But, the SIM did not work properly with my phone. I could make calls, but not access the Contacts section of the phone.

So I researched the issue via Google, and within just a few minutes discovered that this is a known incompatibility between 5G SIMS and my 4G phone, the Alactel Smartflip. So I sent this information on to Redpocket, both on eBay and at their website. They just needed to send me a 4G SIM for my 4G phone, and all would be well.

They replied they only have 5G SIMS. They offered no solution. No apology. Nothing. They ignored all the documentation, links and phone numbers I provided.

Here's the fun part. RedPocket actually sells the Alactel Smartflip on their site. And they STILL didn't know that their 5G SIMS do NOT work with that phone.

So I'm now giving up on RedPocket as well, and have requested a refund. It remains to be seen if they will issue the refund, or require me to fight them by contacting eBay and Paypal.

So it's back to square one for me. I'm now on to once again shopping for a new phone and a new carrier. And the new carrier will likely suck just as much as the last two.

Did I remember to mention that I hate the cell phone industry? :-) Good God, what a bunch of losers....

[TacoDan]

Maybe US Mobile
They run on Verizon and TMOBILE

[advcomp2019]

Lots of companies does not have a different SIM for 4G LTE and 5G NR devices. They use the same SIM between both 4G LTE and 5G NR devices.

It is only provisioning that changes things.

I know AT&T talks about older SIMs might not support VoLTE, but I am not sure why that is case tho.

I am not sure why a SIM would cause you have Contact List issues tho.

[hpham]

I am not sure why a SIM would cause you have Contact List issues tho.

I wonder about that too. Accessing the Contact section of the phone does not require cell service. We need a detailed description of the problem to help the OP.

[advcomp2019]

I wonder about that too. Accessing the Contact section of the phone does not require cell service. We need a detailed description of the problem to help the OP.

I did some searching, and I was like wow. Lots of people have this loading issue with a 5G SIM.

Here is one: https://forums.att.com/conversations...f40c122b56d8f8

Another one: https://forums.att.com/conversations...51cc656553b641

[hpham]

I did some searching, and I was like wow. Lots of people have this loading issue with a 5G SIM.

EDITED: I read some of the Q&As and sounds like people who had problems were trying to save the contacts to the SIM card and loading from the SIM card. Can't the contact list on that phone be stored to its internal memory?

[advcomp2019]

Maybe that model has a problem with its software function for the Contact list. But cell service (4G or 5G) is not needed to load the contact list from google or gmail. Use WiFi instead.

EDITED: I read some of the Q&As and sounds like people who had problems were trying to save the contacts to the SIM card and loading from the SIM card. Can't the contact list on that phone be stored to its internal memory?

I am not sure too. I am still reading around for any other info on this, but the only fix that I have read people that works the most is to get 4G SIM.

I am wondering if the GoFlip 3 has the same bug or not. I believe the GoFlip 3 is the same as the SmartFlip.

Edit: I even think the Tracfone's MyFlip 2 is the same phone. I looked at a number of the FCC ID documents to see this info.

[Rick880]

[B]Here's the fun part. RedPocket actually sells the Alactel Smartflip on their site. And they STILL didn't know that their 5G SIMS do NOT work with that phone.

Do you know for a fact that the Smartflips from RedPocket don't work with 5G SIMs? Just curious. I used to own a Smartflip (AT&T) for a while.

[Rockchuck]

In my experience, neither an AT&T Smart Flip nor a T-Mo Go Flip would save contacts to the SIM, always reporting an error. Whether this a bug or a customization decision on the part of MVNOs isn't known to me, but neither would surprise me.

[advcomp2019]

Do you know for a fact that the Smartflips from RedPocket don't work with 5G SIMs? Just curious. I used to own a Smartflip (AT&T) for a while.

Do you still have it?

Plus did you look at those links that I posted?

I see that 5G AT&T SIMs have this same issue too. People have a hard time finding a 4G AT&T SIMs since the stores have 5G AT&T SIMs.

[zapjb]

These are not Androids I know. Around Android 4 or so I had a couple AT&T branded phones. They had a weird AT&T Contacts list separate from Google Contacts. And the AT&T Contact list was always getting in the way. I had to go to lengths to disable the AT&T Contacts list. I wonder if it's some vestige from that or another weird way AT&T is asserting control.

[sillyette]

Will the Alcatel MyFlip 2 suffer from the same problem? If it won't, then there's a very low-cost solution on Tracfone. I remember OP had said his usage is minimal so Tracfone should work.

With Tracfone's referral rewards program and HSN's new customer coupon, you can basically get 2 years worth of service plus the flip phone for $30+tax. OP, let me know if you need detailed steps to achieve this.

[advcomp2019]

I do not know if any of the other Alcatel or TCL phones suffer from this issue.

Then again, I have not found anyone else with this issue but for the ATT version of the GoFlip 3 series.

I even thought it was a KaiOS bug, but other KaiOS phones does not seem to have this issue.

So, someone needs to get one of these "5G" SIM, and see it happens with other phones to see if it is truly only this AT&T version.

[Rick880]

Do you still have it?

No. I couldn't stand Smartflip's high-decibel "power on" sound and got rid of it after realized that there wasn't any way to turn its volume down. I replaced it with a Tracfone Myflip 2.

[Clueless Guy]

I am not sure why a SIM would cause you have Contact List issues tho.

I don't know either, but this is a known issue which is discussed in some detail on the ATT forum.

https://forums.att.com/conversations...b56d8f8?page=2

Here's perhaps the best post from that thread, near the end of page 2.

------------------------------

USER POST:

This is a KNOWN problem. The problem is caused by AT&T inserting a 5G SIM in a 4G phone (Alcatel Smartflip). You will be able to initiate calls and receive calls but the Contact menu will not load.

I confirmed the problem with the manufacturer , Alcatel. Per Alcatel, the Smartflip is a 4G phone. If a 5G SIM is used the problem will occur.

Options:

1. Do nothing.

2. Request AT&T send you a 4G SIM. A phone with a 4G SIM will work on their 5G network.

If you elect to do nothing, you may access your contacts and edit by the following procedure.

1. Power off phone, remove battery and SIM.

2. Reinsert only the battery, and power-up phone.

3. You will now have full access to the Contact list to edit, add and delete.

4. Once completed, Power off, remove battery, reinsert SIM, power-up.

5. Now you're back to "square one".

Should you want to confirm the information I have provided, you may contact

Alcatel by calling 1-855-368-0829.

Note: The manufacture, Alcatel, can do nothing regarding the 5G SIM. It is AT&T's problem.