Wi-Fi calling, FTW...BOGUS

[ElronTheElder]

Just a heads up to the community, If you already knew this ...well, good for you.
Long story short:
Transferred from Google Fi to Consumer Cellular. Sim they sent was T-Mobile specific. "Grrrr", said I; AT&T has the better signal in my area send me a different sim. THEN, noticed a wifi calling toggle in settings and lo and behold I'm not using any voice minutes while on Wi-Fi.
Hold that sim order!
NOTE: Delayed being registered against minutes....Darn that stinks.

Perusing T-Mobile's site found listing of phones capable of Wi-Fi calling. All the iPhone's were listed only Nexus on that list is N6 [reconditioned].

WiFi Calling Phones | Cell Phones w / WiFi Calling Capability | T-Mobile

Pretty sure 6P, 5X would have it so it must be a dated list........
Don't know if this feature is available on all carriers .... I doubt it.

 

[STARGATE]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

T-mobile has had WiFi calling for a long time.
Sprint started about 3 years ago.
I don't think the others have it. Well, I think Verizon is preparing to.

I'm not 100% sure, but some people have complained about not been able to WiFi calling with the 6P on T-Mo.
I guess the only nexus phones that have that feature are the ones sold by T-Mobile.

 

[ElronTheElder]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

T-mobile has had WiFi calling for a long time.
Sprint started about 3 years ago.
I don't think the others have it. Well, I think Verizon is preparing to.

...
I guess the only nexus phones that have that feature are the ones sold by T-Mobile.

My Nexus 6 was from Moto direct.
Didn't notice it till sideloaded 6.01 update.....
Think it was a T-M update.....so maybe.
Note: my wife's N6 doesn't have the toggle so it must have been the T-M sideload.

 

[dakid2k6]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

Wifi calling is available now with AT&T however it's only for iphone 6/6s and plus variants of them.

 

[ElronTheElder]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

Wifi calling is available now with AT&T however it's only for iphone 6/6s and plus variants of them.

That stinks.
So, one has to play with the ROM to activate WI_FI calling on AT&T?
With any N6?

 

[bold1193]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

T-mobile has had WiFi calling for a long time.
Sprint started about 3 years ago.
I don't think the others have it. Well, I think Verizon is preparing to.

I'm not 100% sure, but some people have complained about not been able to WiFi calling with the 6P on T-Mo.
I guess the only nexus phones that have that feature are the ones sold by T-Mobile.

I am on Verizon, Nexus 6 running 6.0.1. There is a hidden option menu if you go into the settings and do a search for "Wi-Fi calling". It will allow you to toggle on, but once you exit the setting, it will turn itself back off again. So I guess we just have to wait for Verizon to accept it. That much closer though haha

 

[dakid2k6]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

That stinks.
So, one has to play with the ROM to activate WI_FI calling on AT&T?
With any N6?

I think one just has to wait for AT&T to allow it. I don't think messing with the ROM will help.

 

[Almeuit]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

That stinks.
So, one has to play with the ROM to activate WI_FI calling on AT&T?
With any N6?

I think one just has to wait for AT&T to allow it. I don't think messing with the ROM will help.

This. The carrier has to actually fully support the feature before you can take advantage -- since the phone call will have to know to route over wifi versus the cell towers.

 

[jj14x]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

While it is not the same as WiFi calling using your carrier number, there is an alternative that may work for some.

Set up Google Voice Lite - https://support.google.com/voice/answer/115127?hl=en - basically, this will make Google Voice your voicemail service. In other words, if somebody calls your carrier#, and you don't answer, it will get forwarded to your Google Voice account, and after ringing there, if you don't answer, it will let caller leave a voicemail for you on Google voice.

So, this will give you visual voicemail using Google, but more importantly, you can set up hangouts to get the incoming calls to your Google voice, and hangouts work over data (WiFi/3g/4g).

To recap, if you are in an area with no cellphone coverage (but you have WiFi coverage), your incoming calls to your cellphone# will bounce over to your Google Voice#, and will cause your hangouts app to ring and let you receive the call on your phone over data.
You can make outgoing calls using hangouts (over data) as well, but it will display your Google Voice# instead of your carrier's #.

 

[ElronTheElder]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

This. The carrier has to actually fully support the feature before you can take advantage -- since the phone call will have to know to route over wifi versus the cell towers.

Guess I wasn't very clear with that.
Ha, I'll try again:
Once AT&T, Verizon.....others, activate Wi-Fi calling on their service.
It must be available in the phones ROM either with a switch or automatically, I presume.
That would mean pushing an update to those phones not native/bought from that service.
In addition to legacy hardware from fore-mentioned carriers.
Doubt that would happen, in a timely manner [at best].
Hence: fools like me who just happened to update their ROM correctly that takes advantage of this feature.
would be in the minority. Vs those who do it specifically for this feature or others.
Don't know if that makes it more clear.
If not I give up.
Anyway, it is a great thing for those who pay for minutes.
In a way it undermines what Project Fi is all about.
Might be the underlying driver for Verizon and AT&T et alii to jump on-board.
Just my opinion, of course, but seems logical.

 

[ElronTheElder]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

....#.

Whoa, that has a lot of moving parts.
It is a way to circumvent inherent restrictions with any phone. Which is a plus.
Interesting.

 

[jj14x]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

Whoa, that has a lot of moving parts.
It is a way to circumvent inherent restrictions with any phone. Which is a plus.
Interesting.

It probably sounds more complicated than it really is. Just two steps really.

• Set up Google Voice Lite on your Google account
• Use Hangouts to receive incoming calls when you don't have cellular coverage (but have WiFi coverage)

 

[ElronTheElder]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

File this under FWIW:

Just got off chat with an AT&T rep.
He said in February AT&T will open up Wi-Fi calling to "most" phones capable of it with a software update.
Hmm...that would be interesting. For sure.

 

[ElronTheElder]

Re: Wi-Fi calling, FTW

THAT STINKS.
Just got off the phone with a Consumer Cellular rep.
Seems my time utilized on home Wi-Fi were delayed in showing up on my minutes.
They do indeed count against minutes used.
That begs the question: How can I be charged for minutes not used on your cellular system?
No good answer there.
Can't really grasp the logic.
Seems like i'm being charged twice for using my network.

 

[jj14x]

Bummer - I agree - that doesn't make sense (though I know of one large carrier that used to do that, at least till I left them). While it won't use your carrier's #, Google Hangouts will not count against your carrier minutes.

Just out of curiosity, do you not have unlimited minutes on your plan?

 

[Topweasel]

I think the point is you are still using their "switchboard" and at while not using their tower signal you do use their network at various points of the phone call.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ElronTheElder]

Bummer -

Just out of curiosity, do you not have unlimited minutes on your plan?

No I don't.
That was my dream. Low minutes plan...utilize my Wi-Fi for most usage.
Can't complain too much. It is a low cost plan. Still.......

 

[ElronTheElder]

I think the point is you are still using their "switchboard" and at while not using their tower signal you do use their network at various points of the phone call.

Posted via the Android Central App

This is true. Also true is I'm still paying the "connection" fee which should more than cover any "switchboard" expense.
Bottom line is VOIP is now mainstream with the cost to the carrier paid for many times over. Any fee is mostly pure profit.
The MVNO, more costly, is not far behind.
While currently a race to the bottom for consumer cost.
I miscalculated...my bad.