[Google Pixel 2 Questions & Answers] gesrowley:
Good News - I finally got Total Wireless service working on my Pixel 2. What a collosal pain in the butt that was though.

Here are my findings. The root of the problem are the APN settings being uneditable. You need to be able to edit them, and if you can't, you are stuck. The Total Wireless SIM card do not allow me to edit the APN settings. At first I assumed it was the 8.0.0 Android operating system preventing me from being able to edit these settings, but that isn't

the case - it is the SIM card that does or doesn't allow these edits.

It seems like the SIM card providers pre-program their SIM cards in different ways. The SIM card I got a couple of weeks ago from totalwireless.com was programmed in the most restrictive way. It didn't allow me to see, add or edit any existing APN settings. This caused me to be completely stuck.

Next I tried a 3 year old deactivated TMobile SIM card. (The card was too big, but my husband cut it down to size with an exacto knife and then sanding with a nail file - It only took about 5 minutes). This one was a bit better in that it allowed me to add a new APN entry, but I still couldn't get it to work successfully. It seems the TMobile SIM must have also been pre-programmed to restrict some operations, because I was only able to edit the NAME and APN values. Several Total Wireless support people told me those were the only two values I needed to set - both attributes with value: TRACFONE.VZWENTP and no other changes needed. But, I couldn't get it to work with just those settings.

After hearing that some folks with old Straight Talk SIM cards got it working, I decided to order a Straight Talk SIM card from their website (note: it only costs 99 cents on their website with free overnight shipping). This card was not activated. (You are only using it to get at the "+"/Add APN functionality, not for actual service). I figured if I couldn't get Total Wireless working, I would switch to Straight Talk. With this SIM I was finally able to get it to work!! The SIM card came with a "TRACFONE" APN entry. I left that one as is, and created a new one. Entering the NAME and APN alone didn't seem to be enough again. I ended up entering some other values (described below). NOTE: It didn't start working until after I toggled Mobile Data on and off, and restarted the phone. When it DOES work, you will see a TINY LTE above to the triagular mobile data bars. Now I can text, get voicemail, and mobile data.

Please note that in order to save the APN settings to my Total Wireless card, I had to do what I assumed was not a good thing - while the phone was running, I pulled out the TotalWireless SIM card and put in the inactive StraightTalk card. I went to APN settings, pushed "+", edited the values, and before pushing SAVE, I pulled out the StraightTalk card and put in the TotalWireless card and then pushed save. In other words, I didn't shut down before swapping out the SIM card. The phone didn't seem to object. Without doing this, I don't think I could have gotten it to save. You need to be sure to save the new TRACFONE.VZWENTP entry to the Total Wireless SIM - not the other SIM!

Here are the APN settings that worked for me.

Name: TRACFONE.VZWENTP

APN: TRACFONE.VZWENTP

Proxy: Not set

Port: Not set

Username: Not set

Password: Not set

Server: Not set

MMSC: http://mms.vtext.com/servlets/mms

MMS proxy: Not set

MMS port: Not set

MCC: 311

MNC: 480

Authentication type: Not set

APN type: default,supl (NOTE: the dun value recommended here wouldn't take: https://bestmvno.com/apn-settings/total-wireless-apn-settings/)

APN protocol: IPv4/IPv6 (NOTE: the blank value suggested on MVNO website wasn't an option so selected this one)

APN roaming protocol: IPv4/IPv6

APN enable/disable: APN enabled (slider to the right)

Bearer: Unspecifed (while I tried to check off all of the values listed in MVNO website, they never stuck or were saved)

MVNO type: None

MVNO value: Not Set

If this doesn't work the first time, I suggest you try the edits and the SIM card swaps several times, and toggle Mobile Data too before you give up. It definitely seems to take a couple of tries before it all sticks.

Thanks to all who provided suggestions. I'm very grateful to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K.