- Apr 27, 2000
- 21,637
- 10,855
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I've been using this ROG Phone 2 on Straight Talk for about three years, give or take. It has worked fine the entire time. Unfortunately, Straight Talk insists that my phone can't do VoLTE on their network (I'm using an AT&T SIM, so basically I'm using AT&T towers). It's an unlocked GSM phone fwiw.
By default, with the latest firmware from Asus, the phone doesn't support VoLTE. I had to activate the menu items by typing:
*#*#3642623344#*#*
In the dialer application.
Doing so enables Wifi calling and enhanced 4GLTE features on the phone under its network settings. These settings remain exposed until I reboot the phone. There's another way to enable them permanently that involves rooting the phone (which I do not wish to do at this time). However! Despite the fact that I have enabled Enhanced 4G LTE and Wifi calling, I see no symbol activated at the top of the screen to indicate a change in calling features (allegedly an Android phone should be showing me something to indicate that VoLTE is active), and Straight Talk still insists that my phone is either not compatible with their network's implementation of VoLTE or that it just isn't activated at all.
Is there any indirect way to test if VoLTE is working, such as looking for data counters to increment after a long phone call? Straight Talk is saying my phone will stop working with them in February without giving me a specific date.
As far as replacements go, I was thinking about getting a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone. Just my luck, they're already available in China but not here. I really don't want to get a Snapdragon 888 or Exynos 2100 phone if I can avoid it. The tech specs on this phone are going to be hard to replace without getting yet another Asus phone, but it looks like Asus' phones are having issues with VoLTE in the United States. For whatever reason. Some people have made it work, some haven't, and I'm just trying to figure out how to make this ROG Phone 2 limp along a little longer until I can get a Gen 1 phone (or maybe one with the new Mediatek SoC on N4) that has at least 12 gigs of RAM and a fat battery. Once you have a 6000 mAh battery it's hard to go back.
I have about two weeks to figure this out before I may lose access. Not really looking to switch providers, either, because I would still be on AT&T towers and I would likely have the same problem. Anyone willing to work with me on fixing this issue?
(I'm also going to be looking at replacement phones anyway)
edit: it also looks like AT&T aggressively whitelists phones for use with VoLTE on their network. Here is a list of phones that will still work after next month:
ROG Phone 3 and 5 are listed, but ROG Phone 2 is not. Apparently some people have had luck getting ROG Phone 2 to work by spoofing it as a Xiaomi M19 while modding the phone's firmware.
There are also numerous Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones on eBay shipping from China, but my guess is they have a Chinese ROM on them instead of the international one so . . . that could cause problems.
edit edit: Never mind, I looked into the trouble I'd have to go through to root and modify my ROG Phone II and I decided it was not worth the trouble to limp along on it just to try and get a new phone this year. So I'm getting a used S21 Ultra 5G. Asus, I love your phones, and I was sorely tempted to get an ROG Phone 5s, but when I look at the network trouble people are having with your phones in the United States, I can't spend that kind of money for elite specs only for it to (maybe) struggle with supporting cellular networks in the United States. International versions of the phone apparently struggle with 4G LTE performance, the 5G band support is . . . spotty, WIFI calling is (apparently) non-functional on AT&T, and so forth and so on. In contrast, the latest Samsung phones "just work" and have as good a chance of anything released in 2021 of fully supporting AT&T's eventual 5G rollout. Which, admittedly, is rather slow and pathetic.
Even if I manned up and forced my ROG Phone II to work for awhile longer, I have a feeling I was going to wind up with a Samsung phone this time around for the above reasons. My only regret is not getting a phone with a second-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 on TSMC N4, assuming Samsung even puts Snapdragons into their phones this time around. But, a Snapdragon 888 with 12GB RAM should hold me for awhile. Either way, the resale value of my ROG Phone II is now severely compromised. And I didn't even root it.
By default, with the latest firmware from Asus, the phone doesn't support VoLTE. I had to activate the menu items by typing:
*#*#3642623344#*#*
In the dialer application.
Doing so enables Wifi calling and enhanced 4GLTE features on the phone under its network settings. These settings remain exposed until I reboot the phone. There's another way to enable them permanently that involves rooting the phone (which I do not wish to do at this time). However! Despite the fact that I have enabled Enhanced 4G LTE and Wifi calling, I see no symbol activated at the top of the screen to indicate a change in calling features (allegedly an Android phone should be showing me something to indicate that VoLTE is active), and Straight Talk still insists that my phone is either not compatible with their network's implementation of VoLTE or that it just isn't activated at all.
Is there any indirect way to test if VoLTE is working, such as looking for data counters to increment after a long phone call? Straight Talk is saying my phone will stop working with them in February without giving me a specific date.
As far as replacements go, I was thinking about getting a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone. Just my luck, they're already available in China but not here. I really don't want to get a Snapdragon 888 or Exynos 2100 phone if I can avoid it. The tech specs on this phone are going to be hard to replace without getting yet another Asus phone, but it looks like Asus' phones are having issues with VoLTE in the United States. For whatever reason. Some people have made it work, some haven't, and I'm just trying to figure out how to make this ROG Phone 2 limp along a little longer until I can get a Gen 1 phone (or maybe one with the new Mediatek SoC on N4) that has at least 12 gigs of RAM and a fat battery. Once you have a 6000 mAh battery it's hard to go back.
I have about two weeks to figure this out before I may lose access. Not really looking to switch providers, either, because I would still be on AT&T towers and I would likely have the same problem. Anyone willing to work with me on fixing this issue?
(I'm also going to be looking at replacement phones anyway)
edit: it also looks like AT&T aggressively whitelists phones for use with VoLTE on their network. Here is a list of phones that will still work after next month:
ROG Phone 3 and 5 are listed, but ROG Phone 2 is not. Apparently some people have had luck getting ROG Phone 2 to work by spoofing it as a Xiaomi M19 while modding the phone's firmware.
There are also numerous Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones on eBay shipping from China, but my guess is they have a Chinese ROM on them instead of the international one so . . . that could cause problems.
edit edit: Never mind, I looked into the trouble I'd have to go through to root and modify my ROG Phone II and I decided it was not worth the trouble to limp along on it just to try and get a new phone this year. So I'm getting a used S21 Ultra 5G. Asus, I love your phones, and I was sorely tempted to get an ROG Phone 5s, but when I look at the network trouble people are having with your phones in the United States, I can't spend that kind of money for elite specs only for it to (maybe) struggle with supporting cellular networks in the United States. International versions of the phone apparently struggle with 4G LTE performance, the 5G band support is . . . spotty, WIFI calling is (apparently) non-functional on AT&T, and so forth and so on. In contrast, the latest Samsung phones "just work" and have as good a chance of anything released in 2021 of fully supporting AT&T's eventual 5G rollout. Which, admittedly, is rather slow and pathetic.
Even if I manned up and forced my ROG Phone II to work for awhile longer, I have a feeling I was going to wind up with a Samsung phone this time around for the above reasons. My only regret is not getting a phone with a second-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 on TSMC N4, assuming Samsung even puts Snapdragons into their phones this time around. But, a Snapdragon 888 with 12GB RAM should hold me for awhile. Either way, the resale value of my ROG Phone II is now severely compromised. And I didn't even root it.
Last edited:
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