Nothing a3 pro

Well, I bought my phone in Canada (swiftronics) but it is an imported phone. It does not have Volte so I guess I need to find a new phone by march 1st. Very disappointing. This phone is usable anywhere in the world except Canada. How all these providers have got together and grey listed these imported phones smacks of price fixing. Very poor. 

According to this comment, the Nothing 4a Pro is not compatible on Public Mobile and is mainly relying on the 3G network. This would apply to your device on the Koodo network as well.

On the contrary, the global version of the latest OnePlus devices seem to be compatible with VoLTE on the Koodo network, as evidenced by this post. From what I know, the VoLTE feature works from OnePlus 10 onwards. As a precautionary measure, you can consider getting the OnePlus 13 or a later model as an option. 

If you are able to return the device, I would suggest you to do it as soon as possible. Otherwise, you may need to sell it on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, or eBay to recoup your losses.

I can't return the device. I've had it almost a year. Well, I've got 5 months to find a replacement. 

If everyone could just be a bit patient with me I'd be very appreciative. I just want to make sure about this nothing 3a pro phone. I understand that this phone won't work after March 1st because 3g is being retired in Canada. Now I've been lead to believe this phone won't work because of something to do with Volte. I have no idea what Volte actually is (voice over something) and I'm not sure how it effects my phone after March 1st 2027 but..... if you look at the top of the screen shot I've posted here you'll see that Volte seems to be available on this device. Does that mean this device DOES have Volte and if so, does that mean it'll work after March 1st 2027? I'm just trying to double check what's going on here and I'm definitely not doubting what people have been tell me here. Any thoughts anyone? It would be nice to get more than a year and a half out of this phone! Thanks in advance for your time. 

If everyone could just be a bit patient with me I'd be very appreciative. I just want to make sure about this nothing 3a pro phone. I understand that this phone won't work after March 1st because 3g is being retired in Canada. Now I've been lead to believe this phone won't work because of something to do with Volte. I have no idea what Volte actually is (voice over something) and I'm not sure how it effects my phone after March 1st 2027 but..... if you look at the top of the screen shot I've posted here you'll see that Volte seems to be available on this device. Does that mean this device DOES have Volte and if so, does that mean it'll work after March 1st 2027? I'm just trying to double check what's going on here and I'm definitely not doubting what people have been tell me here. Any thoughts anyone? It would be nice to get more than a year and a half out of this phone! Thanks in advance for your time. 

VoLTE stands for Voice over LTE — it just means your calls travel over the 4G/5G network instead of the old 3G voice network. A lot of phones use LTE for data but still drop back to 3G the second you place a call, and you'd never notice. That's the part that stops working after March 1st 2027, when 3G is retired.

A quick question — is that VoLTE line in your screenshot a toggle in your network settings, or is it the icon showing up in your status bar? A toggle being there only means the phone itself is capable of VoLTE. It doesn't confirm Koodo's network is letting it register, and that's the usual catch with imported models.

Here is the test that gives you a real answer: turn Wi-Fi off, make an outgoing call, and watch the indicator at the top of your screen while the call connects. If it stays on LTE/4G or shows VoLTE, you're in good shape and the phone will keep working past March. If it flips to 3G or H/H+, your phone is still using 3G for voice and you'd need to replace it.
 

OK. We (might) be getting somewhere. I turned off my wifi and made a call and nothing at the top of the screen changed. It did not got to 3g or h/h+. It just stayed with the "Volte" at the top of the sreeen. Is there anything else I need to check in the settings to guarantee that this phone will still work after match 1st? I can't tell you how much I appreciate your time and effort helping me to sort this out. It's very good of you.

Just another little side to this. Several months ago public mobile (my provider up until very recently) started contacting me to say my phone wouldn't be compliant with their system starting on such n such date. I completely ignored these warnings and just assumed they were trying to sell me a phone and that my expense and relatively new phone would of course be okay. The date came and went with no consequences. Is this another clue that this phone is going to be ok come March 1st?

Thanks again for you help and patience. 

Nope, that’s it! Not only did the settings and notification say VoLTE is active, but when testing it out during a call, your connection did not drop to 3G/4G. This means that you’re good to go. 

While I “get” Koodo/Telus ran a whitelist for VoLTE for their reasons, despite strongly disagreeing with it, once 3G is shut down, the whitelist for VoLTE devices really needs to be completely eliminated, as that would lock out some phones from any use at all in Canada, despite being compatible. But this is no longer affecting your phone, so you can just keep using it! 

Wow! This is great news. I'm quite liking my nothing phone and I definitely want to get more that a year and a half out of a 700 dollar phone (in other words, I'm cheap! Lol) I'm not sure I actually know what a whitelist is but none of this sounds right. What's going to happen when Europeans fly over here with expensive phones that don't have Volte for a two week holiday? They won't be able to make a receive calls? That can't be right? They don't do that to us when we go over there. Anyways, I'm glad my phone is now going to make it past March 1st. Thanks so much for you time and effort. Really very good of you. 

A “blacklist” is when certain things are banned, but anything else is allowed. A “whitelist” is the opposite, where listed items are allowed, but anything else is banned. For a long time, most Canadian carriers started maintaining a whitelist of phones that would be compatible with VoLTE. Basically to force people to be more likely to buy phones on tabs in Canada, although that is not the official reason. 

Cheap or not, good phones are quite expensive these days. And why replace a perfectly functional and compatible phone if you don’t have to? 

The roaming here for international customers is a potential issue. Considering that would affect revenue, I think it’s fair to assume the whitelist will be removed come 1 March 2027 so that will not be an issue anymore.