Comment by mdasen | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mdasen | Hacker News Reader

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No, they can't be connected to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile in the US. Both of them have shut down their 3G networks so phones that don't support VoLTE won't work (and it seems like carriers don't want to take on the liability of letting someone have a data-only "phone" on their network that can't make calls in case of emergency).

In this case, it's not quite BS from AT&T. They wanted to use the spectrum they had been using for 3G to make their LTE network better and certain old LTE devices couldn't do voice-over-LTE (the 3G network would handle voice communication). One could argue that they could have kept the 3G network alive longer (Verizon and T-Mobile shut 3G down in 2022), but at some point old devices stop being able to talk on modern networks. At some point, there's a balance between keeping old networks alive and being able to reuse that spectrum for more efficient networks that serve the vast majority of your customers.

Many countries still have working 3G networks that the iPhone 5S can connect to and they can still be used as WiFi devices in the US (oh, and I'm sure there are some regional carriers in the US that still support 3G).

> it's not quite BS from AT&T

Except it's more BS than you think. The iPhone 5S supports VoLTE technically. But AT&T blocked that feature on those phones.

> No, they can't be connected to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile in the US.

T-Mobile still has a 2G network operating in most of the country and the 5S supports voLTE so it can use both 2G and LTE for calls. It does not have any low band support, so indoor and rural coverage will suck, but it will work.

Even if it didn't have voLTE it would still work on T-Mobile on LTE data and if you were in a GSM market it would fall back to 2G to make calls. The stores won't activate it, but you can take an activated sim card and pop it in and they will not blacklist it.

T-Mobile technically still has 3G broadcasting on their femtocells so that's another option for calls/data if you're around them.

iPhone 5 and 5s are LTE devices though...

Do they support Voice over LTE though?

The hardware supports it, but Apple only supports it on iPhone 6 and newer. So, the short answer is no.

It's often not a matter of technical feasibility, but "is it on the list". Ideally things that could technically do it should be "on the list" but in reality it's probably a janky business process that decides what gets in and what doesn't.

I don’t think anyone should be shocked that Apple isn’t currently prioritizing adding new features to iPhone 5’s over functionality for newer and forthcoming devices.

The problem is the frequency at which they expect people to upgrade. Phones are extremely wasteful.

Said in the context of Apple supporting a 10 year old phone.

It's rare enough that we are here discussing a news article about it.

It's not about Apple or technical feasibility, it's about someone at the telco having an arbitrary list.

My Honor phone supported the LTE voice over, but ATT techs forced me to buy a phone from their own list.

its funny how usa still has that archaic system.

India had that in the past but since 2008-09 at least we have this system where you buy your phone from the market and use whatever sim card you like.

everyone has the same plans for the same price so its a matter of preference/ network quality, etc etc.

i find this funny that w

It’s not a US-wide thing. There are mobile operators and MVNOs that don’t seem to care what device you use as long as it supports their network. T-Mobile in the US tends to be fine with this, as are many of the MVNOs that use their network. It’s common to use devices especially from other regions that don’t support the cellular bands used in some newer coverage areas, etc.

i meant the whole sim+phone plan thing and being tied to that provider as long as the phone works.

people, if they have to buy a phone on EMI, they do that from the bank and not the network provider

Case in point: Blackberry Priv (2015) v. Blackberry Key2 (2018)

Both models are VoLTE compliant. AT&T whitelisted the former supposedly because they once sold/supported this model directly, but told existing users of the latter to replace their phone or GTFO.

I gladly took the GTFO option and switched to T-Mobile...substantially reduced my monthly bill to less than $17/mo per phone and saw improved reception at the office.

Apple supports it on the 5S line if the carrier allows them. AT&T never allowed them.

Aw man, really? I still have my 5. I was hoping some day it would be a fun retro computer experience. Eh, the Lion battery will probably be dead in a decade anyway.

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