ONEPLUS 7 Pro US model - problems with cell data
 

Recently bought a oneplus 7pro online from oneplus store in the US. All phones sold by them are unlocked. (not so if u buy from tmo)

Thought I was being clever and making my life easier - good specs, cheaper than samsung, etc, unlocked, dual sim so I could leave my US sim and insert local sim. Well it didn't quite work that way. No problem in the US (well except for some issues which were mostly solved by putting the sim in slot 1 and some that weren't solved at all like audio notices not working, etc.)

However, when I got to Thailand and topped up my AIS for data (one that I had used before in my samsung) got a strong 4g signal but NO data transfer at all. This puzzled me since AIS sells oneplus phones and the specs look the same (bands, etc) 3 hours of trouble shooting in 2 AIS shops led to no solution (my sim worked in salesman's phone and his sim did not work in my phone).

Oneplus support has been hopeless. I think the problem is that oneplus does not have an agreement with the Thai carriers (but that doesn't make sense since the ones sold in Thailand work) - or maybe there is something like a band missing from my phone???? AFAICS, though the specs listed for the phone sold in Thailand look basically the same as the one I bought.

Anyway a caution for anyone considering this phone to use in these circumstances :(

I assume you set the APN settings correctly? These usually update automatically via a text message, but sometimes need setting manually.

https://www.manual-owner.com/ais-apn...-thailand.html

Yes, sadly checked by staff who tried a few settings - part of the 3 hour time spent with three different staff.
Besides not fixing it they unfortunately reset my device without asking me causing me to have to redo about 15 minutes of stuff :(

What about TRUE? (You mentioned AIS here and on reddit and you also mentioned DTAC not working on reddit, but no mention of TRUE).

-David

Sorry an oversight. Yes tried all 3 true, AIS, and dtac. Visited at least 2 large stores for each b/c the level of English and technical assistance knowledge/willingness to help varied a lot. Also had concierge from hotel call them and one said no agreement one said didn't work with oneplus, etc but the answers seems random. All referred to manufacturer but of course there is no AIS shop in Bangkok (or the US except maybe NY? but all tech support is by email.
If the same model weren't sold in Thailand and working I wouldn't be so surprised but I'm thinking it has to be a missing band (even tho the specs look like there isn't)

There are no missing bands, and if there were you wouldn't be seeing a 4G signal.

Something is wrong with the way you have it configured, but if it's not APN then I don't know what it could be...

Yeah every time I had issue with no Data it was the APN settings. But maybe OP's phone is defective because he mentioned that he had problem even in US unless he put the sim card in Sim 1 slot. Maybe it is not a problem with US bought phone, but a problem with that particular phone?

As others have mentioned, if you're getting signal, the phone's radios support the country's cellular network. Thailand uses LTE bands 1,3,5,8,40,28. Other than some of the Verizon-crippled phones, even the cheapest, nastiest LTE phone will support at least two of those frequencies.

I'm still leaning with the others -- configuration error. If the cell networks were going to deny the phone, it wouldn't be able to establish a 4G/LTE connection with the tower. Instead you'd get the No Signal or Emergency Calls Only messages.

Yes I checked the apn settings (per the store altho one salesman didn't even know what I was talking about but I looked for the apn myself and it looked correct. Yes the whole idea that I have a good 4g signal but data doesn't work is astounding. Haven't tried any voice call cause I never use that but the phone says carrier is whatever sim is there and strong 4 bar signal - so I'm stumped.
It's very much like a problem I had in Vietnam years ago where the router for wifi used a band that wasn't on my phone but when I got the owner to switch the router setting it worked - maybe a different problem this time but that is what sticks in my mind.
I do know that in the 3 hours I spent with AIS different people checked the apn and reset btwn 2 different (but similiar apns) multiple times and that didn't fix it :(

I really wish I could find someone who has purchased a US phone and then was able to use it here but none of my searches have found that. I'll keep looking.

The problem I had in the US wasn't data related and I've always tried the Thai sims in sim 1 just in case (with no sim in the other slot to keep things simple)
Wish I could find somewhere that doesn't just try for 3 minutes then tell me it has to be oneplus issue and to call them :(


Oh and just to complicate things even more - sms from AIS (only) showed up on my phone but one message showed up on whatsapp shortly after my first visit to the AIS store (when I thought it was fixed- but I couldn't reply) and when I went back to the store an hour later they couldn't explain or get it to work. Also had another shop check that my service was configured correctly and it did show that I had the use of the data I had purchased.

I know this is stupid. But OP - had anyone checked if the data has been disabled?

Same with others, I also lean on the configuration issue rather than the phone. If it is a phone issue, you won't even be able to get 4G reception.

I'm pretty sure it isn't an IMEI whitelist since your old Samsung worked and was presumably non-Thai Samsung and 4G signal icon appears on the new phone. But IMEI whitelist is a thing some carriers do (*stares at Sprint*) which hasn't been mentioned. Can you get it to latch to a 3G connection and get data?

>buy a phone so junk it can’t recognize the network it’s on and configure itself appropriately

Why do lagdroid users put themselves through this sort of suffering?

The settings have a 2g/3g/4g (automatic) setting but I think it doesn't have 3g only setting - but it something to try if I get another sim card here.

https://willmyphonework.net/ ...says you shouldn't have a problem...defective phone maybe??

I had a similar Experience in Vietnam with a one plus phone , the solution that worked for me was manually selecting a carrier & network , interesting the issue was only at north Vietnam
no issue at all in south Vietnam with the same networks

Oh... and what about mobile data roaming? Is it enabled?

I was thinking that... but you shouldn't have to select that if you are using a local SIM I don't think.

Yes for some reason on this phone data roaming does seem to need to be enabled which it was.

I couldn't find a way to manually select a carrier - it showed whatever sim I had (eg Ais or true) with no option to change - how were u able to select?

Yes it says that but I still can't find anyone who has successfully used the US model - not everything on the web is correct - but it does seem like it ought to be some setting/band thing since all carriers show a strong connection - the wifi problem I had in VN years ago also showed strong connection but no data transmission so this seems like that :(

I don't have a OnePlus, but in general most Android phones' settings are the same:

Settings > Connections/Networks > Mobile Networks > Network Operators > Search Now

can you post the APN settings that you see now ?

my data only AIS sim says under :

Name
AIS 3G internet

APN type
default,supl,agps,fota,dun

did you go to Termanal 21 to get it set-up
AIS is on the 6th floor I think , with the Movie theaters

I no longer have the sim card - after 3 hours of not being able to get it to function AIS refunded my money
IIRC AIS set the apn to internet and aisinternet. Setting did not specify 3g and I don't think they changed the apn type (I think it was blank - maybe that was the problem.
I went to AIS store at Big C (small one which then referred me to Central store- which is where I spent an hour more and they ultimately gave up). Had purchased top up at the one in term 21 - but hadn't used it right then - since it was a card I already used and I got a message that I had 1g I didn't try to use it until a few days later.
I later went to the AIS store at ICON to see if I could try one of their sims - they let me, it didn't work, but they seemed to have little/no interest in trying to get it to work.

What phone do u have?

that was on a Moto E5 play unlocked from Tmobile USA , but it was a one year worldwide data sim and i think I added some minutes/text to it for Thailand

Thanks, so it wasn't a sim purchased in Thailand from one of their carriers - AIS, true or dtac?

Yes , I got it at AIS in Terminal 21

Thanks, but the problem is the specific phone oneplus. I was confused by "but it was a one year worldwide data sim" I didn't know that AIS sold any worldwide data sims- do you mean sim2fly? How were u able to get a one year version I'm only seeing 7 or 15 day packages on their site (have u used it in the US?)

I too, had a phone (samsung s8) that worked with the AIS sim card so I did not anticipate any problem when I switched to the new phone - but it just won't work.

bal
Written in the purple column on the right SIM2FLY the best-value roaming SIM for everyone! (desktop)

Thank you so much for the link - when I had asked in an AIS store if they have any sim cards that I can use in Malaysia they said no :( I guess the sales staff don't know about all the products their company sells even though it says I can buy in any AIS store:confused:

As to my original problem - oneplus has been of no use (keep suggesting the same things that I told them don't work). I was able to borrow a friends AIS sim today so I could make sure all the apn settings were correct - and still no success :( The signal shows 5 bars volte also shows and no combo of turning data roaming on or off, etc. allows me to download data (altho the up and down arrows indicate that it should be working), nor to use any call function.

The only thing that makes sense at this point is that maybe the IMEI was not supplied to AIS (or any other Thai provider) if what another poster wrote is correct or ?????
When I get home I guess I have to go back to my old phone next time I'm in Thailand. I'll be in Malaysia soon so I may try again there to see if my phone works there,

Thats the one I got , and it does work in the USA on tmobile , I used it today !

Thanks but the AIS sim I had that worked in my old phone (samsung) doesn't work in the oneplus phone in Thailand I had no trouble with it in the US - also with a carrier that uses tmo which is why I was so surprised that it didn't work in Thailand :(
So ultimately I have to reiterate - do not buy oneplus phone in the US if you want to use it in Thailand!

Update - doesn't work in Malaysia either :(
 

So I spent a week also trying to trouble shoot with Fi while in Thailand - despite downloading a bug report and other issues they requested they were of no help whatsoever (except for taking up a LOT of my time).
Now I'm in Malaysia where I have exactly the same problem - using Fi phone shows strong signal but NO DATA CAN BE TRANSFERRED. Again Fi support is of no help. AFAICT there is no point in trying local sims if Fi won't work.
So my only conclusion is that THIS PHONE DESPITE BEING UNLOCKED WILL NOT WORK outside the US - at least in Thailand and Malaysia.
I have no idea why it connects with a strong signal but allow to transfer of data.
BUYER BEWARE.

Did you buy it online? I have been using OnePlus from the one and now 7 plus and it works in every country. Even in Thailand and Philippines and Maldives and every country I have been to.
i agree with you that the people at the mobile shops don't know much and especially the OnePlus.
You need to take it to MBK and ask a tech shop there. They will fix it as they sell OnePlus a lot as lots of foreigners buy them there too and are familiar with the OnePlus unlike the mobile shops like True, Dtac or AIS.

Change doesn't work in Thailand to doesn't work ANYWHERE!
 

So apparently I have a defective phone (which oneplus refuses to even acknowledge or do anything about)
It does NOT work with cellular data in ANY country - including the US where it was sold. I had tried everything except using a t-mo sim (which they claimed would work for sure), but today it is clear that that didn't work either. Went to t-mo store (which used to sell this same model) and nothing worked.
The weird thing is that it looks like it should work - strong bars, up and down arrows BUT no data is actually transmitted!!!!
So I guess I have to change my warning from Thailand to make sure you don't have a defective phone in the first 7 days.
I think when I first used it in the US I was always on wifi when using data and texts worked when I was out and about so it never occurred to me that data on cellular wouldn't work (I assumed that b/c texts worked that meant data was working).
It wasn't until I tried using an AIS sim (which had worked in my old phone) that I discovered that data wasn't working over cellular (tried 3 other thai providers, 2 Malaysian and 3 US). So whatever hardware problem exists I have it! So much for quality control or customer support :(
I bought the phone from oneplus website in the US (AIS sells them and didn't understand why their sim worked in their phone but when switched to mine it didn't work and when my sim was put into their phone it worked fine - clearly suggested there was a problem with my phone -all APN's set correctly, etc). They had never seen a problem with the phone using their sim.

That kind of poor customer service for a defective product purchased within a year isn't a resounding endorsement, either.
https://www.oneplus.com/legal/terms-of-sales

Perhaps some of their support forum team members could help nudge a ticket along https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/t...apter.1168120/ ?

It should be covered under their 12 months warranty even if you can't return it.