Does WiFi calling really work on Fi? And how is one to know if it does?

[anon(9072051)]

I just ported a number from T-Mobile to Fi, and I spent several hours this afternoon in basement classrooms with my phone displaying nothing but "No SIM card -- Fi Network" in my status bar and quick tiles. (Yes, the SIM was in and had been working on T-Mobile band 4 before I got to the basement. Yes, WiFi was on & was set to be always on; the WiFi assistant was on, and its VPN was also on--though the school network is password-protected.)

This basement is notoriously good at blocking cell reception, but a number of the classrooms have arrays of WiFi antennas on the wall inside the classroom. Even though I was connected to the school WiFi network, I could not make or receive calls on my phone because the phone was reporting only that it had no cellular connection. The same Nexus 6 with a T-Mobile SIM in it has been working perfectly fine off of WiFi in those rooms for the past year and a half.

Nothing I did* would wipe away that annoying "No SIM card -- Fi Network" crap until I eventually got my hands on a student's mechanical pencil and popped & re-inserted the SIM card. The phone was now displaying "Fi Network" under the cellular quick tile, but there was still no indication that WiFi calling would ever be an option.

And so, my opening questions.

[*I turned airplane mode on and off; I restarted the phone a few times; I turned the phone off and on a few times; and I tried resetting the cell radios using the LTE Discovery app. I was going to try the Network settings reset option, but it has one of those damned "You can't undo this, ya know" warnings, and I chickened out.]

 

[Ten Four]

From the Fi website, for what it is worth:

If you're using your Project Fi device, just make a call like you normally would using the phone dialer. If you're not using your Fi device and you've opted-in to use your number to talk and text on other devices, you can make calls over Wi-Fi using your number through Google Hangouts. If your call is connected over Wi-Fi, at the top of the screen you’ll see a Wi-Fi icon and the name of the network you’re connected to.

My guess is that "Network settings reset" may be the answer, though I have never had a problem connecting to Wifi that I know of. Fi recommends a restart of your phone as a troubleshooting step--that can't hurt, and I have found that often cures various Android issues.

 

[anon(9072051)]

Yeah, well I get the feeling Fi and I are going to part ways a helluva lot sooner than I could have ever imagined.

I'm now at home where I have a very strong WiFi set-up in a very small apartment, and the phone insists on connecting me to Sprint's band 41?! This is insufferable. It's like the WiFi calling feature on my phone has been disabled.

 

[cgb77]

Try turning off the cellular data with the Wi-Fi on. That's how I use mine at home and never have a problem with calls/texts.

 

[anon(9072051)]

Thanks. I think the problem may have been with my Phone app. Fi hides a lot of settings that T-Mobile leaves user accessible, like a "WiFi calling preferred" setting. Because of that I think the Fi SIM is more dependent upon the Phone app being "Configured for WiFi calling." I never knew that setting existed before in the Phone app, so I may have accidentally turned it on when I was poking around in the Phone app settings. Nevertheless, I'll probably try using the thing in airplane mode at home or when I know I don't have a reliable cell connection. Still seems like an unnecessary workaround to me after my experience on T-Mobile.

 

[cgb77]

For what it's worth, I just use the cellular data quick setting to toggle it on and off. I think it saves the step of turning wi-fi back on after enabling airplane mode.