nanog mailing list archives

Re: USA local SIM card


From: Ryan Wilkins <ryan () deadfrog net>
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 2017 17:48:38 -0400


On Sep 17, 2017, at 4:40 PM, Max Tulyev <maxtul () netassist ua> wrote:

Nice advertising, thank you! =)

But still have open some questions I asked before:

1. My phone is not LTE but 3G GSM/UMTS capable (all bands,
850/900/1700/1900/2100). Will it work? Is 3G coverage good enough in New
York and Orlando for VoIP calls (SIP, Viber, Skype)?

This limits you to using either T-Mobile or AT&T since they're the only nationwide carriers using GSM/UMTS.

T-Mobile's network on GSM for data is garbage, but they've got UMTS deployed in many areas, however, there are areas 
which only have GSM and LTE service.  Those are more likely to be areas where they never added UMTS but did add LTE 
when they started on their LTE deployment 3 or so years ago.  I haven't kept up with where UMTS is deployed these days 
on T-Mobile but it's either AWS-band (1700/2100 MHz) or PCS-band (1900 MHz).  Their coverage has gotten a lot better, 
but that's primarily in LTE deployed areas.  I don't think they're doing much to expand their UMTS footprint.

AT&T is going to be similar but I'm less familiar with their network and can't speak on it as much.

Latency will be higher on UMTS but you can still use VoIP services, but perhaps with some additional audio dropouts.  
Your mileage may vary.


2. Is there public or private IP address? IPv6?
With standard service, I'm not sure if they support inbound connections to the phones or not.  I've never tried.  I 
suppose that could be worked around with a VPN.  I believe that IPv4 is run through NAT but IPv6 might be a public IP.  
Again, I haven't tried to access a network this way over cellular.

Best,
Ryan Wilkins



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