Mobile data won't autoconnect (Google Pixel 4a, Vodafone RO)

Apps & Core Settings
1

I have a Pixel 4a, and have had this problem under LineageOS and now IodeOS, but not under stock Android nor /e/OS. The SIM card is Vodafone (Romania) and the same card works on my iPhone, on this Pixel 4a under Android or /e/OS, but it is not working on LineageOS nor IodeOS.

“Not work” means that I insert the SIM card, the phone see’s the SIM card, the Internet Settings area see’s the SIM card, but the message “Mobile data won’t autoconnect” is printed.

I went into the APNs - and none were selected. The OS should be autoconfiguring an APN.

Using ClaudeAI, Claude confidentally told me to use these settings

Name: Vodafone Internet
APN: internet.vodafone.ro
Username: internet
Password: internet
MCC: 226
MNC: 01 (or 10, depending on your specific Vodafone network)
APN type: default,supl
APN protocol: IPv4/IPv6

I selected the resulting APN entry, rebooted - no luck.

Then I looked at one of the APNs that were in the phone, which IodeOS had not selected, the settings were similar to what ClaudeAI told me. So I selected that one and rebooted – no luck.

2

Simple check first: if you go to System Settings > Network & internet > SIMs (your sim) is Mobile data - Access data using mobile network enabled? By default it may be deactivated and needs to be toggled on.

3

Thank you - that helped. The phone now says it is connecting to LTE for Internet but e.g. the web browser cannot access sites. I ask it to access my own sites, which I know have no firewall, and the conntection times out. This is the behavior I’d seen previously with LineageOS.

The next step of that behavior is turning on the WiFi Hotspot on this phone, then other phones can use the Hotspot to access the Internet. Example, my Pixel 6a that currently has no SIM, I connected it to the Hotspot on the phone, and accessed the same website that the phone itself cannot access.

4

Firefox / iodé browser will force default https, I am guessing this to be your issue? Try accessing with full URL to check if that may be the issuue.

UPDATE: re-reading your post I am confused. Are they locally hosted sites not publicly visible to the outside world? When on mobile data with no wifi connection you are not on your LAN so would need a VPN connection (tailscale is my recommendation) to access locally hosted devices.

UPDATE 2: OK I re-re-read your post :slight_smile: Before going farther please clarify where the personal sites you are referring to are hosted: your LAN or other, and how they connect to the network (LAN only, or publicly accessible via dynamic DNS or other?), and if they have https certificates or not.

5

The personal sites are on a public webserver, at a regular web hosting provider, with regularly registered domain names, with SSL certificates through Lets Encrypt.

As for self hosted sites in my homelab - I didn’t try to access those, but my approach in that case is to assign CNAMEs to an A record that corresponds to the home internet connection. In my case the internet provider gives us a fixed IP address and even lets us assign an A record to the connection. Then, some configuration in the WiFi router does port forwarding to a NUC, and a reverse proxy on the NUC manages connections to individual services by domain name. No inbound VPN is required.

But, none of that is important to the issue of getting Iode to work with mobile internet data.

For that - I turn off WiFi on the device, to simulate being away from home, then try to access a website in the browser, and it takes a long time and gives a timeout.

6

Correct

1 Like
7

OK I had misunderstood that after enabling mobile data you were only having issues with your personal sites, sorry for not understanding.

Can you directly confirm with your provider the APN settings? APN databases do have a habit of not updating very quickly, and outdated APNs can keep churning around and around… not that I don’t trust Claud… but I guess I don’t give much confidence to their “facts” either :slight_smile:

8

I’ve looked all over the Vodafone RO website and did not where they publish APN settings.

I do have a pixel 6a with stock android that’s working perfectly, and the APN is the same except that APN type includes xcap, and the protocol types only list IPv4 and not IPv6

9

To be more precise, this is the discoverable settings from my Pixel 6a and iPhone 6s (both of which work great) and what I tried to concoct for the Pixel 4a.

APN Pixel 6a Stock Android.

This is the default APN that was created when this phone was initialized.

The phone connects to LTE

All functions work equally with WiFi or no WiFi

One APN - Internet

Name: Internet
APN: live.vodafone.com
Proxy:
Port:
Username:
Password:
Server:
APN Type: default, supl, xcap
Authentication Type: None
APN Protocol: IPv4
APN Roaming Protocol: IPv4
Network Type: Unspecified

APN iPhone 6s

This required zero setup.

CELLULAR DATA

APN: live.vodafone.com
Username: live
Password: vodafone

MMS

APN: mms.vodafone.ro
Username: mms
Password: vodafone
MMSC: http://multimedia/servlets/mms
MMS Proxy: 193.230.161.231:8080
MMS Max Message Size: 307200
MMS UA Prof URL

Concocted APN

In Iode, I clicked “+” to add a new APN, and filled in the following fields using data from above.

With the following, the phone boots and immediately says “Vodafone RO” in the upper-left, but that quickly changes to “Emergency calls only”.

In the Settings / Internet, it might give the code “H” under the Vodafone SIM.

Using the web browser, the connection immediately fails with the error code: NS_ERROR_OFFLINE

APN: live.vodafone.com
Proxy:
Port:
Username: live
Password: vodafone
Server:
APN Type: default, mms, supl, hipri, fota, cbs, xcap
MMSC: http://multimedia/servlets/mms
MMS Proxy: 193.230.161.231
MMS port: 8080
Authentication Type: None
APN Protocol: IPv4
APN Roaming Protocol: IPv4
Network Type: Unspecified
10

I am wondering if your carrier blacklisted the Pixel 4a. Note that it is not 5G capable, and I do know some carriers are more aggressive than others at blacklisting old devices. I think part of their flawed logic is that since with the stock ROM it hasn’t gotten security updates in a long time and they want to reduce risk.

OK in reviewing I see that the device is working for you under /e/OS or Android. Maybe it is something with the iodéOS 6.x (A15) base that causes the problem. Not sure of the /e/OS version but am assuming it would be A14 or even A13. And what is Google Android version tested?

Just some questions, but this seems strange. You probably don’t want to “yet again” reinstall one of those on the device, but would be informative to re-confirm any settings there (APN, etc) on a working ROM :frowning:

11

I’ve been trying this off-and-on for months, beginning with the Pixel 6a on LineageOS. The same behavior happens with the Pixel 6a.

The Pixel 6a had been on LineageOS, with these problems, and wanting to have working mobile Internet, I retrograded to stock Android using the Android website for that purpose, and it’s on Android 16.

For /e/OS, I simply installed the latest. It wasn’t clear from their website the version of the Android base.

The Pixel 4a is now my experimental phone. It has no important data and I switch operating systems as needed.

As I looked at the options it seems Iode is the best choice. I like that it can relock the bootloader.

12

If you have this problems on LOS you have it also on iode. Iode bases 100% on LOS and does not modify or change that parts of the system

13

Actually, it’s good to know that Iode stays even with LineageOS.

14

What if this issue isn’t about APN? That is, why can I enable the WiFi hotspot and other devices can access the Internet?

I don’t know enough about diagnosing this.