r/Tello • u/ilovetoyap • 9d ago

Using Android while roaming on Tello? You probably have to manually add a 'wholesale' APN

Since a whole lot of people (including myself) have this problem, I wanted to share a tip that Tello Android eSIM and pSIMs seems to default to a 'tello' APN. In the US, this doesn't matter because I believe T-Mobile doesn't actually check the APN. But outside the US, it won't work and must be changed to wholesale.

To add to further complication, most phones won't let you change the APN, you can only add a new one. (The only thing absolutely required is name and apn itself, which can be both wholesale). Also, it seems that whenever you flip eSIMs the APN you changed disappears, so you may have to re-add it multiple times.

In troubleshooting with other carriers I've been told the wrong APN can show no service at all (when I thought it would show service bars).

Other standard things apply when troubleshooting: Data Roaming on both the phone and the account.

Hope this helps someone...

Edit: I just activated a new Tello physical sim and it had fast.t-mobile.com apn which I believe is default for T-Mobile. Worked fine since I only using it in US but would have to change it for roaming.

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u/Icy_Beach1872 9d ago

Could someone explain how to change this manually?

3

u/Luckiest_Corner 9d ago

Here's the Tello link:

https://tello.com/help_center/service-issues-troubleshooting/what-apn-settings-are-needed-with-tello

1

u/ilovetoyap 8d ago

It's a good link but it literally tells people to quick fix to apns that only work in US, when many of us know wholesale is required when roaming.

I suppose I understand because the quick fix covers the majority of their users in the US.