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Unable to send or receive calls after activation

saukalra
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Hi, I activated the $10 talk/text plan at walmart today with a new phone number (not ported). I am able to send and receive messages but unable to make and receive phone calls. I have messaged the moderator team, but was wondering if it is normal for it to take some time after activation before I can make and receive phone calls? If so, how long does it usually take? Thanks!

9 REPLIES 9


@saukalra wrote:

Thank you @computergeek541 for this explanation, this makes sense. Yes my Moto E4 is a Verizon device and this is the first time I am using a non-Verizon sim card on this device. What you explained is the likely reason why I initially had troubles making voice calls. I will keep this in mind if I ever have to do a factory reset in the future. 🙂

 


Specifically, the steps were to go into the regular android settings,  “More”,  “Cellular networks” , “Preferred nework type”, and set the network type of LTE or 3g.  It doesn't even matter which you select.   Either will work even though it's the 3g that somehow gets disabled by the software.  Just don't select 2g as your prefered network type.

 

On various places on the net, there are people who suggested to do a whole bunch of things to get voice calling to work on these Verizon Moto E4s such as debloating the Verizon software, changing APN setttings, rebooting your phone and such, but I can say with certainty that all of these things were unnecessary.  I even get a good lauch at those who were swearing by in that changing APN settings is what made phone calls start working when APN has nothing to do with voice services (although there was the thing that I mentioned in the last paragraph of this post). 

 

 

The APN settings will appear blank on thes model, but I can also say that there is no need to add the Public Mobile settings.  Even though the settings appear as blank, your data will work just fine.

 

Setting the network type in the settings works right away 100% of the time if your device has just been factory reset or if it is brand new.

 

This model also had another way to get vocie to work, and that involved using your data connection for a few minutes.  After some time, the 3g would almost magically enable itself allow your to make phone calls.  But we don't have to worry about that, because as I said, setting network prefered network type to either LTE or 3g works guranteed without playing around with a bunch of other stuff.

 

 

saukalra
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Thank you @computergeek541 for this explanation, this makes sense. Yes my Moto E4 is a Verizon device and this is the first time I am using a non-Verizon sim card on this device. What you explained is the likely reason why I initially had troubles making voice calls. I will keep this in mind if I ever have to do a factory reset in the future. 🙂

 


@saukalra wrote:

Your suggestion to select Public Mobile under Networks worked. I thought this had happened automatically since I was getting texts, but it didn't.

Thanks so much!


That's good to hear.

 

By any chance, is your Moto E4 one of the Verizon devices? If it is, these phones will sometimes only connect to LTE networks at first. If that is what hapoened, you would be able to use text messaging and cellular data, but phone calls would not work.

 

What's probably happening here is that manually selecting the Public Mobile network is probably getting to connect to the 3g network, which is required for voice services.

 

The Verizon Moto E4 devices were funny animals.  Sometimes, out-of-the-box, 3g network capabilities would be disabled.  A solution that always worked to get these to work on Public Mobile was to set the prefered network type.  After you set that, voice calls would immediately start working.  It didn't even matter if it looked like LTE was already set as prefered; selecting it again would fix everything.   Strangely, it you factory reset these devices, you would sometimes have to do this same procedure again, but not all the tine.   If you factory reset again with the same device, you sometimes didn't have to.

saukalra
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Your suggestion to select Public Mobile under Networks worked. I thought this had happened automatically since I was getting texts, but it didn't.

Thanks so much!

MacMe
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I have the Motorola E4 too and it works fine.

 

You can try going to your settings and under Wireless & Networks, click More.

 

The click on Cellular Networks and then Network Operators.  Then select "Public Mobile".

 

If that doesn't work, power off your phone and remove the SIM.  Re-insert and power on.

saukalra
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

My phone is Motorola Moto E4 and I am fairly certain it is compatible with public mobile (my mom also has the same model and uses it with Public Mobile).

I have messaged the moderator team, hopefully will hear back from them soon. Thanks!

Anonymous
Not applicable

@saukalra, Although i am not 100% sure, I think that if your phone is able to send/receive SMS, it should also be compatible for voice calls on the Public Mobile network.  Just to be sure, what model phone do you have? 

If your phone is compatible, that would mean there was a problem with the account setup (on the Public mobile side), and that you will need to contact the moderator team via private message to get this fixed.

Click here to send the moderator team a private message. Their hours are: Mon-Fri 9AM-9PM(EST) & Sat/Sun 9AM-7:30PM(EST)
You can find information regarding the moderator team by following this link.

saukalra
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Thanks for your reply! It has been over an hour since the activation. I have restarted my phone a couple of times.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@saukalra, For a new activation with a new number, service should activate within a few minutes.  An hour would probably be pushing it.  Have you power cycled your phone?

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