4G, VoLTE & carrier support for phones

[Mr Pointy]

I'm with Vodafone & they sent an email last week advising that the 3G network was being turned off in 2023 & that I should consider using a phone with 4G & VoLTE support. I checked my handset (a One Plus 3) & it should support VoLTE but then I did an IMEI check on the Vodafone website & it says it's not supported.

A little further digging seems to show that the carriers decide which phones they are going to support & it might only be the ones you buy form them. Does anyone know if this is actually the case? If it is it could be a significant restriction on moving between carriers that hasn't been an issue with the 3G system.

The fact it's a fairly old phone isn't the main issue, it does everything I need & there's been no bar in moving form Orange to Three to Vodafone up until now. What I don't want to end up with is a phone that only works on one carrier.

[AJB88]

Three/Smarty tried to tell me my Pixel devices bought directly from Google wouldn't support VoLTE but if I bought it from them it would. Bought from Google and it works.

[.:ian:.]

The phone needs the volte settings for the provider in its firmware, so in a way its down to the manufacturer.

[Mr Pointy]

.:ian:. said:

The phone needs the volte settings for the provider in its firmware, so in a way its down to the manufacturer.

But if my phone says it can handle VoLTE but Vodafone say it can't which is correct?

Is it a case of it can handle VoLTE but not on the Vodafone network & if so how do I find out which networks it will work on?

[Defcon5]

They aren’t decommissioning their 2G infrastructure, so your phone will make calls just fine, likewise your mobile data will be on the 4G as it is now.

Don’t do anything for now