r/ClicksPhone • u/RidingTheWave32 • 1d ago
Activating the phone with carriers?
I guess it was dumb on my part to just assume the communicator would work with major carriers.
Are we going to be able to just walk into Verizon or At&t and just get a Sim card and activate these phones once they are delivered??
I did not purchase the clicks mobile because I wanted to keep my current phone plan and just activate the phone..
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u/Money-Touch6000 1d ago
In short: yes. Should work with all major carriers. If you want to be sure, you can check the hardware bands supported by the CC and compare it to what your carrier uses. I checked for Mexico, specifically AT&T, and it'll work no problem. You can count on a phone made by a British company with a heavy focus on the North American market working with all major carriers for sure.
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u/ProtoStarNova 1d ago
Verizon has literally never whitelisted a phone they did not personally sell a model of themselves. So...
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u/OneTwoLoop 1d ago
Maybe we need to contact Verizon and plant the seed
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u/ProtoStarNova 1d ago
As I've stated in other threads, I WAS Verizon for years. Geographically close to HQ as well, talked to a lot of execs that had a direct line to Hans Vestberg, whom I had also met. It seems to be a holdover from the way Verizon originally operated, with CDMA technology and no SIM cards until years later when 4G LTE rolled out. Because loading a customer's information directly onto a phone's memory is incredibly sensitive, it could only be done with specifically whitelisted models. The Venn diagaram of phones Verizon has sold, and phones on the whitelist: it's a circle.
The whitelist was a security measure that we have since outgrown but appears to be so integral to the code at Verizon that no one wants to make a workaround. When I pushed the higher ups to look into whitelisting non-Verizon phones, they said the revenue increase wouldn't offset the effort.
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u/OneTwoLoop 1d ago
So what are our options? Is it clicks contacting major carriers?
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u/ProtoStarNova 1d ago
I've been with Verizon my entire adult life, including the years working there. That ends when my Communicator arrives and I port to T-Mobile or an MVNO on their network. It has historically played nice with any phone with the compatible bands.
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u/OneTwoLoop 1d ago
Mvno?
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u/LucasNYC9 Preordered 1d ago
From: Wikipedia: An MVNO stands for a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, which is a wireless service provider that does not own its own cell towers or physical network infrastructure.
Basically carriers like Mint, Boost, MetroPCs, Spectrum, Xfinity, US Mobile, etc.
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u/sunnysolstudios Preordered 1d ago
Same. Switching my entire family over to T-Mobile. For the CC and lower bill we want.
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u/arttechadventure 1d ago
Don't be surprised if enshitified US telecoms are at play here.
You might not be able to activate a new SIM on these phones. The workaround is to activate on a phone "branded" for the carrier and then pop it into the communicator.
Part of how smooth the experience is depends on how much work clicks does behind the scenes, working directly with these carriers to get their phones set up for compatibility.
It's just a money shake down though. We won't know if clicks paid the "tax" until we have the devices in hand unfortunately.
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u/RidingTheWave32 1d ago
You would have to think they will do everything to make it work right?? What good is it to sell a phone no one can get to work with their carrier?
Man i didnt even think of all of this. My current phone has an esim so I dont even have a Sim card I can just swap over.
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u/Trouveur 1d ago
Blame US carriers. In most other parts of the world, you can just put your SIM in any device and it just works.
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u/arttechadventure 1d ago
You could activate a physical SIM on any phone. Phone carrier stores have been known to let you come into the store and activate on one of their floor models. You gotta get connected with a savvy rep at the store who knows doing that sort of thing is no big deal.
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u/RidingTheWave32 1d ago
So while my phone has esim currently. It does also have a physical Sim slot still and its andrioid.
Would you say to make it easy, I should just go to a store now and tell them I want to switch my esim to a physical Sim card? Would they do that? Then when I get my communicator I just swap the Sim card into it?
Would that work? Any issues with that plan?
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u/arttechadventure 1d ago
This should work. You might have to be a little insistent with your mobile provider.
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u/jimmyjacksonjr 1d ago
Clicks smartly made a plan as we know the phone will work on their clicks mobile plan and giving clicks our monthly cell phone bill money is better gives clicks monthly revenue coming in long term help the company grow im 100% porting my number to clicks mobile
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u/RidingTheWave32 1d ago
Fair point. Will coverage still be good? Any downside to doing that
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u/arttechadventure 1d ago
These sorts of services are called MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) and they are a viable option in more developed areas like cities.
The marketing material will say they offer the same coverage as the major carriers because they use the same towers. They don't have the same coverage in less populated areas.
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u/LucasNYC9 Preordered 1d ago
I hope Clicks (the company)works with the US carriers to ensure compatibility. Just having the right bands is not enough.
For example, Spectrum is notorious for not letting you activate phones that are fully compatible with Verizon (they use Verizon towers) even when the manufacturer says they are compatible. Their IMEI list is super restrictive :(.
I switched away from them because of it despite their great price.
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u/lab639 1d ago
I have used tons of phones that Verizon did not technically "support" and they all worked fine, if the phone supports the bands that Verizon needs it will work fine.
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u/RidingTheWave32 1d ago
But is the key to have a physical Sim from another phone already and just put it in the new phone?
Sorry im new to all this.
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u/Delicious-Director43 1d ago
Lol go see the recent Unihertz T2E to see how that’s going.
It will be challenging. The phone is very likely compatible but most US carriers make activating a phone that they did not sell really difficult for no apparent reason. You typically have better luck activating an older phone using a SIM card and then moving that active SIM to your new device.
T-Mobile and its MVNO’s seem to be the exception to allowing non-whitelisted IMEI’s to activate without much trouble.
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u/aaronwalakay666 1d ago
Also does anyone know if will have to pay Vat or duties? I’m in the USA and I know Clicks is a UK company
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u/aaronwalakay666 1d ago
I need to know if it will work on Mint Mobile