WIFI calling

[Central n ohios best]

Yeah the phone models do make a difference. To my surprise my zte works great with or without WiFi calling. The only con I have about my phone is no front cam.

Sent from my Z730 using Tapatalk

 

[diesteldorf]

And therein lies the rub: T-Mobile's coverage is such that many people need WiFi calling, but, to get WiFi calling, you have to accept manufacturer and carrier bloat, along with slow-to-nonexistant O/S updates.
Jim

Anyone willing to do a little experiment? Previously, I used Skype and set it up to always display my Google Voice #. I also had Groove IP when it still supported Google Voice.
I like the new VOIP calling in Hangouts. It reminds me of Groove IP, only better.

I'm not a TMO customer, but a lot of people rave about WIFI calling as being crystal clear, better than skype, and as good as a traditional cellular call. Jerry was even writing about how it good it was in one of his articles.

Is there anyone on TMO that would be willing to give their honest opinion about how VOIP on Hangouts and TMO wifi calling compare?

In case you don't have it already installed, you have to be on Hangouts 2.3 and have the new Hangouts Dialer app installed and, of course, have a Google Voice #.

 

[npaladin-2000]

Anyone willing to do a little experiment? Previously, I used Skype and set it up to always display my Google Voice #. I also had Groove IP when it still supported Google Voice.
I like the new VOIP calling in Hangouts. It reminds me of Groove IP, only better.

I'm not a TMO customer, but a lot of people rave about WIFI calling as being crystal clear, better than skype, and as good as a traditional cellular call. Jerry was even writing about how it good it was in one of his articles.

Is there anyone on TMO that would be willing to give their honest opinion about how VOIP on Hangouts and TMO wifi calling compare?

In case you don't have it already installed, you have to be on Hangouts 2.3 and have the new Hangouts Dialer app installed and, of course, have a Google Voice #.

Frankly, WiFi calling's call quality is constrained by whatever's on the other end. That should be established right off...doesn't matter how good quality you're on, if they're on a sucky AT&T connection it's still going to sound bad. Phonecalls only ever sound as good as whichever end is of lower quality.

That being said, your side will default to HD Voice, which means if the other end is also HD Voice in some way (VoLTE, good landline, good quality VoIP of some sort) then its going to be an excellent connection with excellent quality. It's about equivalent to Hangouts and a touch better than Skype-to-Skype calls.

 

[Old Stoneface]

I'm not a TMO customer, but a lot of people rave about WIFI calling as being crystal clear, better than skype, and as good as a traditional cellular call.

It is. I have traditionally tended to just leave WiFi enabled. Thus my handset will automagically switch to WiFi calling whenever a reasonable cell connection can't be established. TBH: Cellular calls and WiFi calls have been indistinguishable from one another.

Is there anyone on TMO that would be willing to give their honest opinion about how VOIP on Hangouts and TMO wifi calling compare?

Funny you should ask

I just re-installed/-enabled Hangouts on both my handset and my tablet, this morning, and installed the Hangouts Dialer. Did the same on my wife's phone and tablet. Made a variety Hangouts <-> Hangouts and Hangouts <-> cellular calls, between handset/handset, tablet/handset and tablet/tablet. (I don't know if we hit all combinations.) They were just short test calls (save one, which was a Real Call), but they all sounded fine in both directions. Only thing was: Hangouts calls on the handset, using the speakerphone: Volume level was exceedingly weak.

I'm doing this because I'm considering a handset that won't have WiFi calling. So I need an alternative.

Only problem I have with Hangouts, so far: I really don't want Google into my life any more than it already has been Oh: And it takes an exceedingly long time to establish a connection. Other than that: The Hangouts Dialer app, and the resulting VoIP calls, seem to work fine.

 

[red.foxx15]

If I am initiating calls wifi calling is great. On my note 2 when I get an incoming call there is a considerable lag between me swiping to answer and the person on the other end being able to hear me. I believe this is a note 2 issue. Just felt I should bring my story to aid that it varies per phone

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[El Platanero]

It works well for me as well but Wgats the advantage of using it? Meaning does this save towards your minutes if you have a limit on land lines? I've never seen any connection advantage either.

 

[npaladin-2000]

It works well for me as well but Wgats the advantage of using it? Meaning does this save towards your minutes if you have a limit on land lines? I've never seen any connection advantage either.

If there's no connection advantage then you probably don't need it. It's good for routing your calls over WiFi when you have iffy or nonexistent cellular signal, basically it's a coverage supplement. It still uses minutes AFAIK. It's HD Voice, but so is any HSPA or VoLTE call (not EDGE or GPRS though).

EDIT: there is a battery advantage from shutting down the cellular radio.

 

[Almeuit]

If there's no connection advantage then you probably don't need it. It's good for routing your calls over WiFi when you have iffy or nonexistent cellular signal, basically it's a coverage supplement. It still uses minutes AFAIK. It's HD Voice, but so is any HSPA or VoLTE call (not EDGE or GPRS though).

EDIT: there is a battery advantage from shutting down the cellular radio.

The battery advantage is true. Also yes it does use minutes still.

As npaladin said it is usually best to use it when you don't have coverage or it is "iffy".

 

[npaladin-2000]

The battery advantage is true. Also yes it does use minutes still.

As npaladin said it is usually best to use it when you don't have coverage or it is "iffy".

Yeah I should probably expand on that a bit. The Cellular radio only shuts down when you're set to WiFi-calling only ("Never use Cellular"), or WiFi calling preferred. If you're on Cellular preferred, then even though WiFi calling might connect, the cellular radio will stay on and keep searching for a tower until it finds one.

 

[Phoneguy108]

Stopped using it after I noticed I wasn't getting MMS and group messages when I had it on.

Anyone else have issues with receiving text messages while on Wifi calling?

 

[Old Stoneface]

Anyone else have issues with receiving text messages while on Wifi calling?

Yup. Took me a while to figure out what was going on, because our Sensation 4Gs would nearly seamlessly transition from the wireless network to WiFi and back again. Then, after I saw the suggestion that the problem with texts never arriving or arriving way late might be related to WiFi calling, my wife and I both turned WiFi off at home and violá: Text messages.

 

[LuvMusic]

I'm using a Sony Z1s on TMo and don't have an issue with texts and MMS. My son is at college and texting is his preferred method of communication. Sometimes I wish there would be a delay!

 

[ecfritts]

I'm taking advantage of T Mobile's test drive program just to test the WiFi calling. They sent me an iPhone 5s, I've only had it half a day so far but I haven't had any issues. The WiFi calling works great (so far) and I have left the WiFi calling feature on and texts are still being sent & received without issue.

 

[Shilohcane]

Stopped using it after I noticed I wasn't getting MMS and group messages when I had it on.

On my Nexus 5 when T-Mo changed their Wi-Fi I lost all MMS texts. Since I used Textra (SMS/MMS) I went to the Textra setting and saw that they had a fix for T-Mobile MMS that shuts down Wi-Fi during a text that is a temporary fix. After I used the Textra fix for T-Mo the only problem I have seen is I couldn't send a text when my phone was ringing.

However my Nexus 5 doesn't work on Wi-Fi. Not sure if being on T-Mo through Metro PCS is an issue or the Nexus 5.

 

[RicKaysen]

I'm new to T Mobile, drawn in by unlimited everything plans and WiFi calling. I came from a a 2 gig plan with lousy cell reception at home and at work, so it was an easy choice to pay less for more. I do want to ask if others have experienced poor voice quality on WiFi calls. Using an LG G3 on my first call, last night, the person on the other end said the quality was terrible with lots of echo and clipping. What I heard on my end, while not great, was usable. Is this normal?

 

[npaladin-2000]

I'm new to T Mobile, drawn in by unlimited everything plans and WiFi calling. I came from a a 2 gig plan with lousy cell reception at home and at work, so it was an easy choice to pay less for more. I do want to ask if others have experienced poor voice quality on WiFi calls. Using an LG G3 on my first call, last night, the person on the other end said the quality was terrible with lots of echo and clipping. What I heard on my end, while not great, was usable. Is this normal?

What was the person on the other end using? A lot depends on the quality of the connection on the other end as well.

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[RicKaysen]

An LG G2

 

[akutch34]

works excellent on my Galaxy S5...wish I could get rid of my actual voice plan (and the charge for it lol) because I never use any minutes. All my calls are WiFi.

 

[Almeuit]

works excellent on my Galaxy S5...wish I could get rid of my actual voice plan (and the charge for it lol) because I never use any minutes. All my calls are WiFi.

WiFi calls usually count though. I have the unlimited minutes from the simple choice plan but the wifi calls still count on the minutes usage.

 

[wolfman7828]

Are you sure about that? Seems weird that using wifi counts against minutes.

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