[Nexus 7 (2013) Original Android Development] ksaves2:
N7 2013 LTE observations

Ok,

An observation I've seen on both the N7 2013 flo and deb/LTE is that I cannot get a VOIP/SIP app to work properly. I use TalkaTone and it works nominally under 6.0.1 Deb/LTE and 5.1.1 under Flo.

I tried another VOIP/SIP app (the name escapes me for the moment) and it too failed. My devices I've rooted via CF and can "TWRP" them whenever I want. This "script kiddie" finally mastered

backups and restores and had sense enough to give up on Multi-ROM.

Oh, both Flo and Deb fail with VOIP/SIP apps. Lineage folks don't have to feel bad 'cause I tried it with two other 7.1.2 Nougat ROMs and same thing is seen with TalkaTone. It starts and then shuts down.

I don't know if something is missing in Gapps that results in the failures or what. Anyhow, I can live without Talkatone on Flo as it's only good for Wifi calls there and on Deb/razorg/LTE I can live

with 6.0.1 for now except....................... No Tethering in Marshmallow!! Those stupid Google bas****s! (Yes, I did a search on that and the remedies are a PITA. One edit of the build.prop file didn't work but

it didn't hurt anything either.)

I went ahead and backed up the N7 2013 deb/LTE 6.0.1 (I have a ton of apps on it to the tune of 9Gbs) and did the latest Lineage 7/10 nightly last night and Gapps pico install from TWRP. For some reason it lost "root" but I just connected it up to Ubuntu, adb 'ed it with CF-Auto root to get it back. ( I first shut off "auto-update" from Google before rooting as that bas***d always likes to "update" TWRP 3.1.1 to the "latest" 3.0.0 version. NOT!!) First thing I do with a new install is kill auto update!!! Again, TalkaTone got squirrely and shutdown. If anyone has VOIP/SIP working with the 7.1.2 ROM pipe up. Nice thing with Lineage is I see the

tethering option is in there. I've never tethered before but my digital/LTE provider would probably like it if I would have a tendency to "use up" more data by tethering my WinBlows 8.1/10 tablets to

the N7 2013 LTE!;)

I restored my 6.0.1 system back from the USB stick in minutes so I'm back to square one. Me thinks I may have to do a Lineage install with some minimal apps, setup tethering and then backup "that" system to

a USB stick. In the field, if I want to tether a Winblows device, I'll have to load the system from the USB stick and fire it up. The backup/restore cycles don't take that long but it's a minor nuisance until

I can find a VOIP/SIP remedy for 7.1.2 that will work on a Nexus 7 2013 Deb/LTE. Granted, VOIP/SIP has quality issues with echo and dropouts if there is background noise on either end of the connection but

diddling with the control parameters can help. Certainly not as good as a dedicated cell phone but is very workable. A lot of folks slammed the N7 as it "couldn't" do standard cell phone calls in a normal manner.

Said it was "overpriced" and it was. I don't find the data usage with a voice call that unreasonable and as long as it's relatively quiet on both ends the quality can be acceptable.

The service provider I'm using is Freedom Pop with a GSM data only SIM for my LTE N7. $30.00 a month for 2Gbs of data with the "Premiere" service that allows 1/2Gb to be non-destructively rolled over every month.

Meaning if I have at least 1/2Gb or less left, it will be rolled over to the next month so now the allotment is 2.5Gb. Now say if I only use 1.5Gb of that allotment, another .5Gb will get rolled over and I'll have 3Gb to play with. They make it sound like "all that's left" gets rolled over but that is not the case. The rolled over amount will "stay there" if you don't use it up at the end of the next term but that's it.

With a phone voice/message/data SIM there are a bunch of arcane rules one must follow if they want to get "free" service. I tried one in a cheap BLU phone and it was technically too hard for my spouse to use

and the quality stunk in the low quality phone. I have it as the "free" service as a backup SIM in a higher quality cellphone but again, it is VOIP/SIP with all the limitations it entails just like on my N7 2013/LTE.

If one wants to be super cheap and abide by their rules, fine. If they are not very technically sophisticated, they might as well stay with a "name brand" provider as the Freedom Pop nickel and dime "ing" could

add up fast to possibly close to the higher fees one pays from a "mainline" provider. That said, they do give one a month trial period and one can sign up on their list/blog and search and scan the postings.

A lot of "Why am I charged this or that posts?" but someone from FP usually answers expediently. If one uses a "free" phone sim they can't use more than something like 100mb of data on a 200mb limit on

a GSM card. 500mb on CDMA. 200 minutes of voice and 500 messages (send or receive) . Shut off auto pay and if one goes over, the account shuts off till the next 30 day period so it's not the end of the world.

If you "go over" on the "free" plan then those little "unknown" charges start to sneak in without shutting off the "auto-pay". One does have to "use" the phone service a "little" bit every month or they will get charged (if the auto pay isn't turned off) or the account will simply be cancelled without notice.

Comments welcomed especially pointers on VOIP/SIP on Lineage and tethering. I haven't done tethering yet myself but it would be nice to run GPS tracking applications out in the field over the cell phone data

backbone. Kurt