AT&T - First Net - Not Able To Make or Recieve Phone Calls

[priceless819]

I guess this is more of an informative post. I have First Net, which is a 1st responders, military, ect phone network that is built by AT&T. Last week they shut off 3G, and because of this, my Note 20 Ultra, unbranded and unlocked, won't make any phone calls nor receive any, but yet I can get texts and use my data. So if anyone having similar issues, it's AT&T, not you or your phone. I only found out last night and verified it this morning. After working with customer service, they put in a "ticket" and will contact me. So I hope nobody is having the same problem, but yet I do so I know if it got corrected.

Anyway, have a great day!

 

[B. Diddy]

Thanks for the info! I'd expect this more for an older phone, but not a Note20 Ultra, even if it is carrier agnostic. As far as I know, they didn't make different variants for different regions of the world, so that wouldn't be the problem. What's the exact model number of the phone, and is it in this list? www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/pdf/Devices-Working-on-ATT-Network.pdf

 

[priceless819]

It's the N986U1.

It's definitely on the list of phones to be able to still work. It's just frustrating, because I even swapped out the SIM to my S10+ and got the same thing. The customer service was great, but the company is trash. I'll keep you guys posted on this. They said 24-48 hours before they get back to me. I'm not going to hold my breath, but will be looking to take my business elsewhere.

 

[jeepshots]

I'm experiencing the same thing. I purchased an unlocked S22 Ultra to upgrade my unlocked Note9. I'm on FirstNet, and have been since 2019 using my Note9. After a week of back/forth with customer support, and being escalated twice, FN has now come back telling me that my S22 Ultra isn't compatible and that I need to upgrade. I'm sorry - upgrade to what? The S22 Ultra is the top-of-the-line flagship from Samsung. It's listed on their compatible device list, only as an AT&T branded device, not an unlocked device. In fact, if I go to their compatibility page (https://www.firstnet.com/checkyourdevice.html) it tells me "Great News! This device is compatible with FirstNet." The issue is that unlocked devices aren't whitelisted, so therefore they do not work on FirstNet network.

I'm going to try a solution from reddit user Romeo_Golf:

1. Go to an ATT store and beg them to give you a new orange, regular ATT card. Just say you need the card, and that they don't need to activate it. They'll probably give you crap like me and say bla bla this, bla bla that. Eventually they said the card won't work because they didn't activate it, but you just need to get your hands on the card.
2. Go to your firstnet.com account, login, and click Manage Services and Billing
3. Under the drop down menu of "I want to:" click "Change device IEMI/SIM", along with your wireless number.
4. Click change next to SIM/ICCID and type in the new sim ICCID number from the card in step 1.
5. This is where it gets a little funky. I had to remove the " First Priority SubPaid Prim Level 4 Priority" and substitute it with "Dynamic Traffic Management Public Safety FNSP".
6. Continue through the prompts and after verification it took about 20 seconds for the old card to die out and the new one to activate.

 

[priceless819]

You are going to try this? I'll be interested in knowing if it works, because it's that you need to "Upgrade".Upgrade this! Lol. Not me, I'm already looking elsewhere to take my business, because I already know where this is going. Escalation to them not fixing anything, same thing they did when I had problems with group texts, some got it, and some didn't, and they never fixed it.

So you say, we just have to get a new ATT SIM you say.....

 

[priceless819]

Just reading this again.... They want you to buy a phone from them and nobody else? Kick Rocks! White listed BS. Something with AT&T always gave me a bad feeling

 

[priceless819]

I'm going to try this, I got a 5G SIM from AT&T, ready to do some McGyver stuff, except I don't have a paperclip to get the SIM out. Lol

 

[priceless819]

I'm experiencing the same thing. I purchased an unlocked S22 Ultra to upgrade my unlocked Note9. I'm on FirstNet, and have been since 2019 using my Note9. After a week of back/forth with customer support, and being escalated twice, FN has now come back telling me that my S22 Ultra isn't compatible and that I need to upgrade. I'm sorry - upgrade to what? The S22 Ultra is the top-of-the-line flagship from Samsung. It's listed on their compatible device list, only as an AT&T branded device, not an unlocked device. In fact, if I go to their compatibility page (https://www.firstnet.com/checkyourdevice.html) it tells me "Great News! This device is compatible with FirstNet." The issue is that unlocked devices aren't whitelisted, so therefore they do not work on FirstNet network.

I'm going to try a solution from reddit user Romeo_Golf:

1. Go to an ATT store and beg them to give you a new orange, regular ATT card. Just say you need the card, and that they don't need to activate it. They'll probably give you crap like me and say bla bla this, bla bla that. Eventually they said the card won't work because they didn't activate it, but you just need to get your hands on the card.
2. Go to your firstnet.com account, login, and click Manage Services and Billing
3. Under the drop down menu of "I want to:" click "Change device IEMI/SIM", along with your wireless number.
4. Click change next to SIM/ICCID and type in the new sim ICCID number from the card in step 1.
5. This is where it gets a little funky. I had to remove the " First Priority SubPaid Prim Level 4 Priority" and substitute it with "Dynamic Traffic Management Public Safety FNSP".
6. Continue through the prompts and after verification it took about 20 seconds for the old card to die out and the new one to activate.

This works to a T. Perfectly. You have to do everything on the firstnet website but it works to a t. I have to go back to the AT&T store and tell the guy. It's pretty simple to do.

 

[loekie32]

My son had this problem, moving from ARkansas to TX.... He had a LG V40 ThinQ, unlocked from BestBuy. Couldn't make calls or receive calls in his new apartment in TX, but was able to text and use data. Sometimes he could call or make calls when he was outside or in his car...
We worked with ATT for almost two months. I called/ chatted, my son called/chated. Got a new sims card - no difference. Son finally went to an ATT corprate store, got it working in ATT store, called me, all was fine....
Got to his apartment, guess what, stopped working, no calling or receiving calls!!
Finally decided to just get a new phone, Pixel 6 Pro; it wasn't worth the hassle. Maybe if we had seen this info about new orange card, we could have made it work....
We think it had to do with 3G being turned off, but, phone worked perfect in ARkansas, inside and outside.... Very weird!

My husband also has the LG V40 ThinQ, but sofar that is working great. Son's phone was purchased unlocked through BestBuy. Husband's phone was unlocked through ATT. Not sure if that makes a difference. His phone should last a little longer since he gets 4G, we hope...

 

[priceless819]

It just has to be a AT&T SIM card, the one I got was 5G, I don't have 5G though, but yeah its working 100 percent. I also put in a FCC complaint as well. I just asked if I could buy one, and they just gave it to me, I explained what I was doing and they guy was saying they can't put an AT&T SIM with FirstNet, but we can on our account management side. But overall, we should not even have to go through all this.

 

[priceless819]

Just an update for anyone who does this trick, your numbers will now come up as +1 which is annoying, because when it's linked to Bluetooth in my car, the name doesn't show up, just the number, because of this.
Secondly, you won't have access to band 14, I tried to access it directly via an app, you won't get service, BUT this is getting much better call quality than I was getting before. It sounds crystal clear at times.

Lastly, you will get visual voice mail now, which they never included with First Net.

 

[kpdx]

I am on First Net with Note 20 ultra. No interruption in service for me.

 

[mustang7757]

Just an update for anyone who does this trick, your numbers will now come up as +1 which is annoying, because when it's linked to Bluetooth in my car, the name doesn't show up, just the number, because of this.
Secondly, you won't have access to band 14, I tried to access it directly via an app, you won't get service, BUT this is getting much better call quality than I was getting before. It sounds crystal clear at times.

Lastly, you will get visual voice mail now, which they never included with First Net.

You might want consider flashing to carrier version might have better results then unlocked version.

 

[xGROMx]

You might want consider flashing to carrier version might have better results then unlocked version.

I have the same issue, and just found this thread. Already talked to support, new sim, factory reset phone. I bought the phone in January and it was labled as At&t compatable, too late to return. BS

Can some one point to how I can re-flash with a carrier version of Android? I would like to try this before cutting loss, and buying a new phone.

 

[mustang7757]

I have the same issue, and just found this thread. Already talked to support, new sim, factory reset phone. I bought the phone in January and it was labled as At&t compatable, too late to return. BS

Can some one point to how I can re-flash with a carrier version of Android? I would like to try this before cutting loss, and buying a new phone.

Welcome to AC!
Which Samsung you have , i can direct you.

 

[J Dubbs]

It's all a big game with AT&T... my wife's unlocked Moto G6 and my unlocked Moto Z3 Play weren't supposed to work after the 3G shutdown, but I had read somewhere that long term customers devices (we've been with them since 1995) wouldn't be affected, and sure enough both phones work perfectly... no service interruptions ever. It's just a ploy to get people to buy more phones from them. Don't fall for it... I've heard if you're a squeaky wheel they'll fix it for you. If not tell them to bugger off and your going to spread the word and take your phone and business elsewhere.

And you don't need an AT&T phone either, that's part of their scam, any unlocked phone supporting VoLTE will work. If our 2018 phones are working flawlessly, vvm and all, then an S22 Ultra MOST DEFINITELY will work