Allow user to change SIM slot technologies ( ex. 2G vs. 3G )

[Ondrej Kubik]

There is missing function call to alter behaviour of SIM slots in multi SIM slot setup.

There are dual SIM phones with 3G capabilities on both SIM slots, but limitation that only one slot can perform 3G at the time.
Typically by default 3G is then enabled on first slot, while second slot is limited to 2G.
However hw allows to alter behaviour and use 3G from second SIM slot, while first SIM slot is then limited to 2G

What we need is function call in telephony stack to alter SIM slot setup.

This is a prerequisite for exposing it in the settings UI, bug 1379850.

[Tony Espy (awe)]

Changed project to ofono, as that's where the low-level change would be required.

[Tony Espy (awe)]

This could be accomplished by making RadioSettings::ModemTechnologies write-able.

This property is currently used by our System Settings UI to determine which technologies can be shown used to set 'TechnologyPreference' ( ie. use 2G vs. 3G; can LTE be shown ).

If the device doesn't support this function, than trying to write 'ModemTechnologies' would return an UnSupported error.

That said, while I think this is a nice feature it's not Critical as the user can physically swap the SIMs today.

Also as this requires touching multiple packages, my vote would be to release this as part of an OTA update.

[John McAleely (john.mcaleely)]

This bug really needs input from more stakeholders. there are confused users (asac, for example), and designers worried about how many dialogs they need to write to warn users of the 2g/3g settings.

[Ondrej Kubik (ondrak)]

Idea for this bug was to provide task to implement support in ofono to switch SIM slot technologies.
It is not intention of this bug to tackle whole user experience, and under which condition technology in SIM slots should be altered.
This is only to provide foundation in case UX requires to do so, task which can be done independently.

In bigger picture, UX should be designed first to decide if and when such a cal is needed, if needed at all.

[Ondrej Kubik (ondrak)]

Tony are you sure it's as simple as writing 'TechnologyPreference' for each slot?
How does it handle fact that there are hw limitations to and only one slot at the time can have 3G enabled.
Also when I tried this on Android, it seems like this actually reboots modem. While I believe you can downgrade/upgrade technology on slot without need to reboot modem.

I was hopping there is specific call to rild which is handling this, and doing all necessary checks ( making sure only one slot is 3G, rebooting modem if needed)

[Joe Odukoya (jodukoya)]

Please do not just mark items as wishlist.

If you feel it *should* be a wishlist item then *please* raise it for further discussion.

Thanks!

[Alfonso Sanchez-Beato (alfonsosanchezbeato)]

This adds the capability to set and use 3G for any slot:

https://github.com/rilmodem/ofono/pull/126

[Tony Espy (awe)]

@Joe

I marked it as wishlist as this describes a new feature, not a bug. I also provided an explanation for this when I made the change. I could understand your objection if this was a customer facing list, but as this was reported against our ofono package, this is standard procedure for bug triage.

As for raising it for discussion, that's what we're doing now. ;)

[Tony Espy (awe)]

@Ondra

What I'd proposed was using a pre-existing RadioSettings property. When properties are written, they can trigger actions, which might include sending one or more requests to rild.

As we control the driver implementation, we could handle the limitation that only one slot could have 3g in the driver implementation by returning an error to a SetProperty call for 'ModemTechnologies' when one modem already was configured for 3G. So toggling would require setting removing 'umts' from one modem's property and then adding it to the second modem's.

I will discuss with Alfonso, as he chose a slightly different implementation which modifies the ofono API by introducing a 3g specific DBus method.

Also my personal opinion is that this feature over-complicates the cellular device settings, which frankly we still haven't gotten to work right yet.

[Tony Espy (awe)]

@Victor

Any explanation for why you bumped the priority? The ofono task is already in-progress and slated for OTA-1. Just curious...

[Tony Espy (awe)]

Just approved and merged the ofono pull-request ( #126 ) for this bug into out github master.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package libqofono - 0.53-0ubuntu3

---------------
libqofono (0.53-0ubuntu3) vivid; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches/mtk_settings_binding.patch
    - add mtk (mediatek) settings binding which allows consumer
      to set which modem to allow 3G communication (LP: #1373388)
 -- Ken VanDine <email address hidden> Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:07:54 -0500

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ofono - 1.12.bzr6882+15.04.20141126-0ubuntu1

---------------
ofono (1.12.bzr6882+15.04.20141126-0ubuntu1) vivid; urgency=medium

  [ Alfonso Sanchez-Beato ]
  * grilreply.c, parcel.c, rilmodem: merge data and voice reg parsing
    This change splits the orginal parsing code for data and voice
    registration replies, cleaning up some of original parsing code
    which wasn't very elegant.
  * Makefile.am, rilmodem, src/sim*.*, include/sim.h,
    plugins/mtk.c, ril.c: enable SIM phonebook import support
  * rilmodem/sim.c, plugins/mtk.c, ril.c: fix SIM interface signals (LP: #1376250)
  * plugins/mtk.c: fix krillin slow socket disconnection (LP: #1388030)
  * Makefile.am, doc/mtk-settings-api.txt, mtkmodem,
    plugins/mtk.c, test, unit: support krillin 3g slot switch (LP: #1373388)
 -- Ubuntu daily release <email address hidden> Wed, 26 Nov 2014 01:44:00 +0000

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

bumping priority as this should have landed in rtm by now

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

drop back to high won't block release
land with https://bugs.launchpad.net/canonical-devices-system-image/+bug/1379850

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

land post rtm

[Victor Tuson Palau (vtuson)]

I think this bug is critical for OTA-1 since impacts significantly the dualsim experience

[Bill Filler (bfiller)]

blocked by these two bugs:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indicator-network/+bug/1411714
https://bugs.launchpad.net/barajas/+bug/1378778

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ofono - 1.12.bzr6886+15.04.20150206.1~rtm-0ubuntu1

---------------
ofono (1.12.bzr6886+15.04.20150206.1~rtm-0ubuntu1) 14.09; urgency=medium

  [ Alfonso Sanchez-Beato ]
  * rilmodem/sim.c, plugins/mtk.c, ril.c: fix SIM interface signals (LP: #1376250)

  * Makefile.am, doc/mtk-settings-api.txt, mtkmodem,
    plugins/mtk.c, test, unit: support krillin 3g slot switch (LP: #1373388)
 -- Ubuntu daily release <email address hidden> Fri, 06 Feb 2015 15:19:36 +0000

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package libqofono - 0.70~rtm-0ubuntu2

---------------
libqofono (0.70~rtm-0ubuntu2) 14.09; urgency=medium

  * debian/control
    - fixed typo in breaks
 -- Ken VanDine <email address hidden> Wed, 14 Jan 2015 09:36:03 -0500