[JHBrandt]

OK, my Priv apparently survived the 2/22/22 3G shutdown - or so I thought until last Tuesday, 3/8, when I lost service for most of the day. Then service came back on Tuesday evening, so I thought all was well again - until Thursday, 3/10, around noon, when it shut down again, apparently for good.

My cell provider has been Red Pocket, a reseller on the AT&T network. So after three days of no service, today I decided to swap SIMs between the Priv and my iPhone 8. Red Pocket came up immediately on the iPhone, so apparently their SIM won't work in the Priv any more.

The new SIM is from Spectrum Mobile, a Verizon reseller, and it -almost- works, but there are problems. I can't seem to enable VoLTE: I go to Settings / Advanced Calling and click on Activate Advanced Calling, but nothing happens.

It also appears I need to update the APN settings. I have a notification, "Unable to Establish a Wireless Data Connection," but when I click it, all I get is a screen with the message "Access Point Name settings are not available for this user." So it seems Spectrum's SIM has locked this down.

I don't know if these problems are because the Spectrum SIM is for an iPhone, or if Spectrum just won't -quite- work in the Priv either. Google hasn't been able to find me much help.

[conite]

OK, my Priv apparently survived the 2/22/22 3G shutdown - or so I thought until last Tuesday, 3/8, when I lost service for most of the day. Then service came back on Tuesday evening, so I thought all was well again - until Thursday, 3/10, around noon, when it shut down again, apparently for good.

My cell provider has been Red Pocket, a reseller on the AT&T network. So after three days of no service, today I decided to swap SIMs between the Priv and my iPhone 8. Red Pocket came up immediately on the iPhone, so apparently their SIM won't work in the Priv any more.

The new SIM is from Spectrum Mobile, a Verizon reseller, and it -almost- works, but there are problems. I can't seem to enable VoLTE: I go to Settings / Advanced Calling and click on Activate Advanced Calling, but nothing happens.

It also appears I need to update the APN settings. I have a notification, "Unable to Establish a Wireless Data Connection," but when I click it, all I get is a screen with the message "Access Point Name settings are not available for this user." So it seems Spectrum's SIM has locked this down.

I don't know if these problems are because the Spectrum SIM is for an iPhone, or if Spectrum just won't -quite- work in the Priv either. Google hasn't been able to find me much help.

You might be ok on TMO for a bit.

But it's time to move to a secure, 5G, supported device.

[Andreas Tchorsch]

OK, my Priv apparently survived the 2/22/22 3G shutdown (...)
It also appears I need to update the APN settings. I have a notification, "Unable to Establish a Wireless Data Connection," but when I click it, all I get is a screen with the message "Access Point Name settings are not available for this user." So it seems Spectrum's SIM has locked this down.

My PRIV just showed me today that it works on Telekom (Germany) with 4G. It is not an issue with the SIM-card if not.
And you are right: It has something to do with the APN. I had to renew the password, it was changed recently. And once a day the Telekom refreshes the network connections. Then the PRIV (or also my Passport) loose the connection and I have to restart the phone or renew the password setting in the APN. Then after a while it works again.

[JHBrandt]

Yes I saw your post in the Crackberry's Future thread. Great to know.

Unfortunately in the US, I'm a bit out of Telekom's range! I'll follow Conite's advice and try Mint Mobile (a T-Mobile reseller).

[Chuck Finley69]

Yes I saw your post in the Crackberry's Future thread. Great to know.

Unfortunately in the US, I'm a bit out of Telekom's range! I'll follow Conite's advice and try Mint Mobile (a T-Mobile reseller).

Due to carrier prioritization rules, it might be a better idea to use TMO directly.

Remember : Postpaid>Prepaid>MVNO

[JHBrandt]

Thanks; I'm aware that my service is more likely to be slowed down because I use a reseller. I was OK with that with Red Pocket, and in order to save some cash, I'm still good with it as long as it works.

Mint Mobile's website checked my Priv's IMEI and said it's compatible. But if they're wrong and it doesn't work, I have 7 days after activation to cancel.

P.S.: It does seem sad, though, doesn't it? There's no reason a 4G LTE phone with VoLTE shouldn't work on every network; yet it appears that both AT&T and Verizon have blocked access for the Priv.

What bothers me most is that so many seem so willing to just roll over and take it. Of course, what are we going to do? In the US there are only three nationwide networks. You have to pick one of them; it's a 3-network oligopoly!

I'm glad T-mobile is giving us diehards a reprieve, at least until ATnT or Verizon decides to buy them up....

[Chuck Finley69]

Thanks; I'm aware that my service is more likely to be slowed down because I use a reseller. I was OK with that with Red Pocket, and in order to save some cash, I'm still good with it as long as it works.

Mint Mobile's website checked my Priv's IMEI and said it's compatible. But if they're wrong and it doesn't work, I have 7 days after activation to cancel.

P.S.: It does seem sad, though, doesn't it? There's no reason a 4G LTE phone with VoLTE shouldn't work on every network; yet it appears that both AT&T and Verizon have blocked access for the Priv.

What bothers me most is that so many seem so willing to just roll over and take it. Of course, what are we going to do? In the US there are only three nationwide networks. You have to pick one of them; it's a 3-network oligopoly!

I'm glad T-mobile is giving us diehards a reprieve, at least until ATnT or Verizon decides to buy them up....

I don’t see it as rolling over as I have both AT&T PRIV and KEYone that I can use on AT&T but don’t since they’re not usable devices for me by my standards. As far as coverage, AT&T has been my postpaid lines since 1990 with predecessor McCaw Communication and I’ve always had VZW or TMO for at least one backup line. The carriers aren’t just targeting BlackBerry either, but all old phones. I’ve seen this shutdown with 1G/2G/3G and I pay less now for a line with better coverage and data speed year over year.

I’ve also used BlackBerry almost 20 years and my reasons then were to generate income. Before that, generate income was the reason to just have a mobile line to justify the expense. A few years ago, BlackBerry lost the ability to be my primary device per industry requirements. In 2022, AT&T is supporting almost 4 year old carrier locked iPhone XR, factory unlocked Pixel 3a, factory unlocked Pixel 5a with 5G and carrier locked Galaxy A13 with 5G, no problems.

As far as your device on Mint or TMO directly, you won’t know true impact of 3G shutdown until it actually happens…

[conite]

P.S.: It does seem sad, though, doesn't it? There's no reason a 4G LTE phone with VoLTE shouldn't work on every network; yet it appears that both AT&T and Verizon have blocked access for the Priv.

What bothers me most is that so many seem so willing to just roll over and take it. Of course, what are we going to do? In the US there are only three nationwide networks. You have to pick one of them; it's a 3-network oligopoly!

I'm glad T-mobile is giving us diehards a reprieve, at least until ATnT or Verizon decides to buy them up....

AT&T still supports 335 phones from 28 manufacturers, so it's not like they don't play ball.

I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to support every ancient or Kickstarter phone you can dig up.

[JHBrandt]

I don’t see it as rolling over as I have both AT&T PRIV and KEYone that I can use on AT&T but don’t since they’re not usable devices for me by my standards.

Hey, if you need a better phone, I have no quarrel with that! Get yourself whatever you need.

But there are those for whom the old BB phones are perfectly usable, or at least were until (in my case) last Tuesday.

Once again, neither Red Pocket's (ATnT) nor Spectrum Mobile's (Verizon) SIM works in my Priv, but both work in my iPhone 8. Both phones have 4G VoLTE. Neither has 5G.

So the design limitations of the Priv aren't the problem. There's no reason the iPhone should work but not the Priv. It has to be an artificial block. That's what I'm saying folks are "rolling over" for: their carrier forcing them to upgrade or lose service even when the phone itself is still perfectly capable of working on their network!

BTW, are you saying you can use your Priv with ATnT? Because I was kind of getting the impression you can't anymore ... at least, no one said otherwise until now....

(It's a moot point anyway. In the past few years, a direct ATnT subscription has become very expensive. I cut my monthly cost to $20/mo. from over $70/mo. by switching to a reseller. Apparently I can't use Red Pocket's SIM in my Priv any more, so I have to make another change, but I'm not going back to ATnT at their current prices.)

As far as your device on Mint or TMO directly, you won’t know true impact of 3G shutdown until it actually happens…

Huh? I thought the 3G shutdown already happened - for all networks - last month, and I was pretty sure my current predicament is related to that.

[conite]

Hey, if you need a better phone, I have no quarrel with that! Get yourself whatever you need.

But there are those for whom the old BB phones are perfectly usable, or at least were until (in my case) last Tuesday.

Once again, neither Red Pocket's (ATnT) nor Spectrum Mobile's (Verizon) SIM works in my Priv, but both work in my iPhone 8. Both phones have 4G VoLTE. Neither has 5G.

So the design limitations of the Priv aren't the problem. There's no reason the iPhone should work but not the Priv. It has to be an artificial block. That's what I'm saying folks are "rolling over" for: their carrier forcing them to upgrade or lose service even when the phone itself is still perfectly capable of working on their network!

BTW, are you saying you can use your Priv with ATnT? Because I was kind of getting the impression you can't anymore ... at least, no one said otherwise until now....

(It's a moot point anyway. In the past few years, a direct ATnT subscription has become very expensive. I cut my monthly cost to $20/mo. from over $70/mo. by switching to a reseller. Apparently I can't use Red Pocket's SIM in my Priv any more, so I have to make another change, but I'm not going back to ATnT at their current prices.)

Huh? I thought the 3G shutdown already happened - for all networks - last month, and I was pretty sure my current predicament is related to that.

Yes, you can use the Priv and KEYone (branded device variants purchased from AT&T) on AT&T VoLTE, no problem.

Although you shouldn't, as they are both big security risks being so far beyond getting security patches.

[JHBrandt]

Well, there are different meanings of "support." (For the sake of argument, assume my Priv was still on my ATnT subscription and not a reseller.) Would it still work? It should, and @Chuck Finley69 says that his does, which was news to me!

But if I had a problem with it, would I expect ATnT to help me fix it, even if they sold it to me? Of course not - the phone's design is 7 years old! So no, I don't expect ATnT to "support" my "ancient" Priv in that sense. Seems you're putting up a bit of a straw man here.

[conite]

Well, there are different meanings of "support." (For the sake of argument, assume my Priv was still on my ATnT subscription and not a reseller.) Would it still work? It should, and @Chuck Finley69 says that his does, which was news to me!

But if I had a problem with it, would I expect ATnT to help me fix it, even if they sold it to me? Of course not - the phone's design is 7 years old! So no, I don't expect ATnT to "support" my "ancient" Priv in that sense. Seems you're putting up a bit of a straw man here.

That's why buying a phone from a carrier has inherent advantages.

Even though they don't support old BlackBerry Android devices, they are still committed at least to those they actually sold.

[JHBrandt]

Yes, you can use the Priv and KEYone (branded device variants purchased from AT&T) on AT&T VoLTE, no problem.

Thanks. That does clarify things. Mine is an ATnT-branded Priv, but I didn't purchase it directly from them - although presumably someone did, or it wouldn't be ATnT-branded, would it?

That leaves two possibilities: it won't work because it's second-hand, or it won't work because I was using a reseller. Either way, what I said to @Chuck Finley69 still applies: the phone itself ain't the problem!

Although you shouldn't, as they are both big security risks being so far beyond getting security patches.

I accept the risk. Believe it or not, I do know a thing or two about computer security (although I admit I'm no expert on Android).

If I get the Priv working and it gets hacked, I promise I won't try to hold you personally responsible for failing to warn me, OK?

[conite]

That leaves two possibilities: it won't work because it's second-hand, or it won't work because I was using a reseller.

Well, the former wouldn't prevent the device from working. I don't have much knowledge regarding the latter.

[JHBrandt]

That's why buying a phone from a carrier has inherent advantages.

Even though they don't support old BlackBerry Android devices, they are still committed at least to those they actually sold.

<sigh> I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. When I bought mine, ATnT wasn't selling them any more. So it was either a second-hand Priv or no Priv. I guess your advice would have been: no Priv - buy a slab and live with it.

My point hasn't been rebutted, though. Would you say that Ford dealerships should service a 7-year-old Ford, if the original purchaser still owned it, but refuse to service an identical 7-year-old model that had been sold and repurchased on the used market? That doesn't seem like a reasonable business practice to me - if the cars are identical, the service should be identical - but I guess you're more willing than I am to "roll over" for Big Tech and their "enforced obsolescence" schemes.

At least at the time (2019?), ATnT's service was still reasonably priced, so I had service direct from them until I bought my GF's iPhone 12, and my monthly bill shot through the roof.

[conite]

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. When I bought mine, ATnT wasn't selling them any more. So it was either a second-hand Priv or no Priv. I guess your advice would have been: no Priv - buy a slab and live with it.

My point hasn't been rebutted, though. Would you say that Ford dealerships should service a 7-year-old Ford, if the original purchaser still owned it, but refuse to service an identical 7-year-old model that had been sold and repurchased on the used market? That doesn't seem like a reasonable business practice to me - if the cars are identical, the service should be identical - but I guess you're more willing than I am to "roll over" for Big Tech and their "enforced obsolescence" schemes.

At least at the time (2019?), ATnT's service was still reasonably priced, so I had service direct from them until I bought my GF's iPhone 12, and my monthly bill shot through the roof.

Any BlackBerry Android device that came from AT&T would work today on AT&T regardless of the ownership chain.

But BlackBerry sold dozens of variants through dozens of different channels. I don't think that AT&T has to take responsibility for those too.

[JHBrandt]

Well, the former wouldn't prevent the device from working. I don't have much knowledge regarding the latter.

Well, if it's the latter, I guess I can let AT&T off the hook a bit, and withdraw my previous rhetorical question.

Although at their current prices, they won't be getting my business back if there's any alternative at all.

[Chuck Finley69]

Hey, if you need a better phone, I have no quarrel with that! Get yourself whatever you need.

But there are those for whom the old BB phones are perfectly usable, or at least were until (in my case) last Tuesday.

Once again, neither Red Pocket's (ATnT) nor Spectrum Mobile's (Verizon) SIM works in my Priv, but both work in my iPhone 8. Both phones have 4G VoLTE. Neither has 5G.

So the design limitations of the Priv aren't the problem. There's no reason the iPhone should work but not the Priv. It has to be an artificial block. That's what I'm saying folks are "rolling over" for: their carrier forcing them to upgrade or lose service even when the phone itself is still perfectly capable of working on their network!

BTW, are you saying you can use your Priv with ATnT? Because I was kind of getting the impression you can't anymore ... at least, no one said otherwise until now....

(It's a moot point anyway. In the past few years, a direct ATnT subscription has become very expensive. I cut my monthly cost to $20/mo. from over $70/mo. by switching to a reseller. Apparently I can't use Red Pocket's SIM in my Priv any more, so I have to make another change, but I'm not going back to ATnT at their current prices.)

Huh? I thought the 3G shutdown already happened - for all networks - last month, and I was pretty sure my current predicament is related to that.

Only AT&T has shutdown 3G at this point. Legacy Sprint is next followed by TMO soon thereafter. I believe VZW is scheduled for 2022 year end or so.


The PRIV is so old that each carrier that offered the device had their optimized version for either 3G compatible GSM or CDMA back then. My PRIV is AT&T sold and AT&T supported on AT&T postpaid account back then. At some point, there were support issues so AT&T, with BlackBerry did push out an update that essentially made the AT&T model supported directly from BlackBerry although still AT&T locked. If you didn’t update the device with this special AT&T update in 2016/2017 period, I’ve heard the device has issues since the update actually fixed connectivity issues the device was having on AT&T network. The AT&T model back then wasn’t ever compatible on VZW so I doubt it would be certified on a VZW line, direct or MVNO, regardless. Your PRIV also sounds possibly AT&T carrier locked.

[Exedorable]

@op

My unlocked Priv is working well on T-Mobile for now, typing this on it currently.

AT&T dumped me last Feb, and together I and (ironically) an AT&T tech at a local shop both had a good sober laugh about how both my Priv and KEYᵒⁿᵉ show up as having the hardware to remain operational, but their system would simply reject the imei of either.

T-Mobile accepted both, and honestly w/ very minor coverage/voice quality loss. Saved us money too, even after my wife upgraded her iPhone (she almost always has the latest model). But after all these years of use it's actually becoming harder to tell if I'm struggling more w/ the software or the hardware side of things.

I do dread the end on the horizon, a bit. But I for one intend to use my Priv until I quite literally can't.

[the_boon]

I wonder if the Pocket will work on Red Pocket...

[Chuck Finley69]

I wonder if the Pocket will work on Red Pocket...

I believe Red Pocket is AT&T MVNO so that would be a NO still

[howarmat]

RP can use ATT/VZW/Tmob

[Chuck Finley69]

RP can use ATT/VZW/Tmob

Well then a UH device on TMO version SIM is possible for now

[Andreas Tchorsch]

Update: My PRIV works now continuously without any need for restart, soft reset or whatever (Germany, Telekom D-Netz, 4G, serviced by high-mobile.de). I just use flight mode during the night to be save from any radiation. And in the morning the PRIV restarts the network connection when turning off the flight mode.

[JHBrandt]

Just wanted to drop back in to say the problem is solved: I got my Mint Mobile SIM installed (it's actually a 4G/5G plan, but of course neither of my phones does 5G), and was finally able to turn on VoLTE on the Priv. Everything works again!

The setting for VoLTE is rather hidden: in the Settings app it's under Wireless & Networks / More... / Cellular Network / IMS settings. I don't know what IMS means but once you turn it on, the VoLTE setting right under it is enabled.

I did have issues. First, I had trouble getting ahold of Red Pocket to get the info needed to transfer my phone number to Mint. Then, it literally took all night for Red Pocket to transfer the number! (Luckily, Mint gave me a temporary number to use while I waited.) Finally, I had a few folks text me to say they couldn't call me after the transfer, although I was able to call them, and other folks were able to call me just fine. So the number transfer was rather bumpy; I blame Red Pocket.

Second, at first I had no mobile data. So I chatted up Mint's bot and it gave me a link to the correct APN settings for Mint. (Apparently the ones built into their SIM don't work, at least not on the Priv.) But every time I tried to enter the settings, they kept disappearing! Turns out there's one setting you have to leave at the default on the Priv: something called MNC. It defaults to 240; Mint tells you to change it to 260 but if you do, the Priv won't keep your APN! Leaving it at 240 works fine though ACAICT.