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UMA Wifi Calling

I hooked up my new MT4G to wifi and it prompted and notified me of wi-fi calling.
Take a look at the picture attached
Pretty sweet finally a android with wifi calling!!!
Edit: This is not uma

above
excellent, wrong forum
bg

Wrong sub forum

I'm gonna go against the grain and say right forum.
Wrong descriptor though, it's not uma.

Technically it's not uma because it doesn't hand off to.and from the tower like blackberry... But I'm equally excited.. Tested and confirmed on mine as well
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

motorjonny said:
Technically it's not uma because it doesn't hand off to.and from the tower like blackberry... But I'm equally excited.. Tested and confirmed on mine as well
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Sorry for the wrong sub forum post. OOPS I forgot where I was.
I was unsure of the cellular handoff. Has it been confirmed that it doesn't hand off?

stoute said:
Sorry for the wrong sub forum post. OOPS I forgot where I was.
I was unsure of the cellular handoff. Has it been confirmed that it doesn't hand off?
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Yes it has been. Can't find the source right now but Tmonews.com is where it was hottly discussed and proved to be right.

stoute said:
I hooked up my new MT4G to wifi and it prompted and notified me of wi-fi calling.
Take a look at the picture attached
Pretty sweet finally a android with UMA!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please stop calling this UMA. It's not the same thing at all.
Wi-fi calling is a clever way to push people on to their own wifi infrastructure. Rather than continue to use cell tower bandwidth, you use your own broadband connection for both data and voice traffic. The best part (for them) is you still use your minutes.
Most people never bother setting up wifi on their phone, because they simply don't have to. The mobile network is available 24x7, and wifi eats battery life. Now, get to charge you *and* get you off their network at the same time.
Brilliant strategy, but I'll pass - I'm not paying T-Mobile to use my own bandwidth.

You would if you were somewhere you didn't have coverage. Or even better if you were out of the country and wanted to call back to a US number and only use your normal minutes and not pay for international roaming.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

The app works great for me with crappy service in my house been waiting for it. Once you get close to the wifi range limit u get a pop-up warning you your call will be lost.

NexVision said:
The app works great for me with crappy service in my house been waiting for it. Once you get close to the wifi range limit u get a pop-up warning you your call will be lost.
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The only problem I had was whsn walking away from work or my house it would drop the call vs the hand off like the blackberrys uma calling feature.
I also think we are all aware this is not a true uma. I will try to edit my op to correct.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Well if you do not want to use the service then dont or let me guess you are a Apple fanboy so will find something wrong with everything other than iPhone and ATT

I wonder if the txt messages will be routed via wifi as well ?

vikramdhani said:
I wonder if the txt messages will be routed via wifi as well ?
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i read through the frequent questions in the wifi calling app... Confirmed that it does send messages through wifi!

motorjonny said:
i read through the frequent questions in the wifi calling app... Confirmed that it does send messages through wifi!
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Click to collapse
It is supposed to do mms sms calls as well as the usual internet and email.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

This is a great feature, i'm just confused why they wouldn't build it to allow it to seamlessly handoff to cell towers.

That would b a hardware requirement and raise the cost.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

dcam1075 said:
You would if you were somewhere you didn't have coverage. Or even better if you were out of the country and wanted to call back to a US number and only use your normal minutes and not pay for international roaming.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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I used WiFi overseas for calling on my BB, and TMo came after me with a bunch of international calling minutes anyway. So unless they have changed their policy - be careful.

gaww said:
I used WiFi overseas for calling on my BB, and TMo came after me with a bunch of international calling minutes anyway. So unless they have changed their policy - be careful.
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Were you calling US numbers?

gaww said:
I used WiFi overseas for calling on my BB, and TMo came after me with a bunch of international calling minutes anyway. So unless they have changed their policy - be careful.
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Click to collapse
I used my BB overseas this summer, mobile network off, wifi on. No extra charges.

Bad reception, anyone use the free unlimited wifi calling feature?

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to posting, had a G2 before but mostly read the forums.
So I've got a G2x that works pretty well so far, no major issues, just some screen bleed in one corner. The only complaint I have is the reception on the phone. It seems that it drops several bars whenever I hold my phone, and in my house, it drops to zero bars where my G2 would hold 1-2 bars.
So I'm starting to use wifi calling so that I can disable the radio through the hidden menu to save some battery power when I'm at home. The problem is, wifi calling only works for a few minutes before it realizes that I'm not on the T-mo network. Basically, I think it needs the cell radio to remain on for wifi calling to work.
I went on T-mo's chat support to enable the free unlimited wifi calling feature on my phone, which, according to the support, will enable me to keep the cell radio off and make calls with the app, just like the UMA wifi calling feature that blackberry phones have. The rep told me to wait a few hours before trying the free wifi calling, which I did, but it still works the same as it did before I got free wifi calling added.
Has anyone else activated the free wifi calling feature? Does it work like the UMA wifi calling feature that blackberry phones have? It's possible it will take longer for the feature to kick in, so I'll keep checking.

It is not UMA. If you are in the middle of a wifi call and you move out of wifi range, the call will drop. That said, you do not need cell tower access, that beats the entire purpose of wifi calling. I use it when I work in the server room at my office. The room is in the center of the building surrounded by concrete so nobody gets any signal in there and I turn wifi calling on all the time.
You'll need a certain amount of bandwidth though. I have at home comcast cable with 22mbps and if I'm streaming Netflix in HD, the wifi calling call quality goes to ****. I haven't captured packets yet but I'm sure it's just that the router can't cope with all those QoS packets. So try not to stream anything while you use wifi calling and you'll be fine.

So do you keep your cell radio on in that deadzone? Wouldn't that drain the battery quickly since it is constantly looking for a signal?

When you turn on wifi calling it turns off cell tower polling automatically. You'll see that your cellphone reception goes from whatever many bars you had, to zero bars because it turns off the cell radio automatically. So once you see the wifi calling icon in the notification bar, you're set. You stop polling celltowers and you save battery

The wifi calling apps automatically turns the radio off after it connects to the network and switches it to GSM only. You'll notice that the bars will go to none once it is connected. You're actually interferring with thd app by trying to do things yourself.
And yes, I use the app whenever I am at home since I get poor signal. Get great battery life just letting it do what it does.
Edit: above poster basically said everything I said while I was typing lol.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I use the WIFI calling feature when I'm at work since I don't get a cell signal in the building. I never changed my account to activate the WIFI calling feature because I already have unlimited minutes on my account, so it doesn't make a difference that WIFI calling uses my plan minutes. Plus, when I tried to do it online, the online system wanted to change my account to one of the plans with a 2GB cap (I'm on the original EM+ family plan, with the 5GB cap). Didn't think it was that important.
Once I get to work, I connect to WIFI, then turn on WIFI calling. I never disable my cell radio. I also set my WIFI calling to connect through WIFI only, not WIFI preferred. At times, my calls are pretty clear. But, there are times when my calls are so choppy that I have to have the person hang up, so that I can call them back from an office line (or go outside and use the T-Mobile tower on my cell).

Oh wow that makes sense, thanks for the responses, I didn't think that it would stop searching for a signal when wifi calling is enabled. I'm curious though, do you guys put connection preferences to "Wifi only?" Seems that if you do wifi or cell preferred it would need a connection to a cell tower so that it could switch to GSM if it provides better call quality.

I haven't tested this in a while but I think if you do wifi only, once you move out of wifi range you have to remember to disable wifi calling or you get no calls.

@Memnoch30 and kangxi
Did you both activate the unlimited free wifi calling feature introduced in May?
Also I just noticed that there is a setting in the app. Under advanced settings, there's an option with the description "UMA network controller address." Perhaps UMA can be enabled somehow?

No I didn't. I have unlimited minutes so I don't really worry about any of that.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I did activate it since I don't have unlimited minutes. I don't know about enabling UMA though.

See, this is something I don't get. Using a cell phone with spotty reception. That is one issue I can say I've never had before this phone. One that is choronically losng it's cell connection.This is ultimately the ONLY reason I have one. Period. If the phone reception is not rock 100% freaking solid, why do I have the damn thing? I do not want a phone that doesn't put my call through every single time. Why should I stand for anything less?

ickster said:
See, this is something I don't get. Using a cell phone with spotty reception. That is one issue I can say I've never had before this phone. One that is choronically losng it's cell connection.This is ultimately the ONLY reason I have one. Period. If the phone reception is not rock 100% freaking solid, why do I have the damn thing? I do not want a phone that doesn't put my call through every single time. Why should I stand for anything less?
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I agree, I think the android phone market is so packed that manufacturers have to put in a lot of time to bump up tech specs for their phone to stand out. They really should be at least implementing a cell radio and battery good enough for real world use though

Wifi calling is amazing. I use it at work. It also saves huge amounts of battery cause wifi < cellular.
LG G2x CM7 2.3.4

how do you get it enables unlimited?? i dont see anything on the tmobile site about it being free unlimited wifi calling just that it will use your plan minutes

Xargon321 said:
how do you get it enables unlimited?? i dont see anything on the tmobile site about it being free unlimited wifi calling just that it will use your plan minutes
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You have to call customer service or do it through their online chat support service to have it enabled. I'm not sure why they make you do this, but you can't enable it yourself through the My T-mobile website.

have to say anything special? or just tell them to enable unlimited wifi calling? might have to do this later then.

Well, you have to be the primary account holder, but you don't really say anything special, just ask to add "free unlimited wifi calling" to your phone line.

Funny thing happened to me I called tonight and, after doing some other changes, asked about the unlimited wifi calling. The agent said oh I see u have a g2x. I said yea? Then after a hold. He said as long as ur using the wifi calling App it doesn't use plan minute.. I said oh really plz note that on my account so when it uses my minutes I can get credit. He said sure no problem I noted it and tagged the support document I read it from on your account. This was the third time I tried adding it. So I have no idea what is going on..
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

That's strange... maybe try adding it through the online chat support, that's how I got it added. They take a while to respond but they seemed to have added it to my account, can't say for sure though.

Complete set up

I know I'm going to probably get my ass chewed for doing this (yes i know the answers are out there) BUT...
I'm overseas right now with my useless G2x (cause the phone doesn't work for wifi calling).
Ok, i'm looking to;
get the latest push of software (coolest setup) that will let me wifi call again, and also is there a way to download apps on my laptop then push them to my phone?
I've been out of the loop for quite a while being overseas and all (maybe since CM7 build 70's or so)... so any help on the latest devs would be great!

If you really need wifi calling get a stock 2.3 rom, weapon would be my choice wifi calling should work perfect, but if you use wifi calling why would you need to dload apps to laptop, just use wifi to dload from market to phone.

You can download any apk file and transfer it to your phone via usb. Then install the apk straight from ur phone.
Which rom are you using that wifi calling doesn't work?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

Wifi calling is a T-Mobile feature. I am over seas too! In Germany on o2. I just froze wifi calling cuz when I tried it, it said invalid sim.
sent from my anti IPhone device

jetbruceli said:
Wifi calling is a T-Mobile feature. I am over seas too! In Germany on o2. I just froze wifi calling cuz when I tried it, it said invalid sim.
sent from my anti IPhone device
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Correct its a T-Mobile feature. But for T-Mobile customers its a great way to save $$$ when traveling over seas. Once you connect to wifi calling, from anywhere in the world, calls and texts to/from US numbers are counted as domestic calls. The OP Didn't say he was on tmobile or not. If he is then wifi calling should work. If not T-Mobile then of course, as you said, it wont work.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I used wifi calling without trouble on my locked g2x in London in August, with Froyo. It might have made a difference that tmo if a carrier in Britain, but then again there's tmo all over Europe.
Jeffrey
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

Why not use CM7.... that seems like the best solution.
WiFi Calling works on just about every rom except MIUI. I know because I use it almost every day.

ecdy said:
I used wifi calling without trouble on my locked g2x in London in August, with Froyo. It might have made a difference that tmo if a carrier in Britain, but then again there's tmo all over Europe.
Jeffrey
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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As long as you're a T-Mobile subscriber (meaning you have a T-Mobile SIM in your phone) you can use wifi calling, regardless which carriers operate in the area where you're traveling. Once you connect to a wifi network the wifi calling app connects to T-Mobile's network.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

What's the wifi calling feature US members talk about?

Hi,
I see that in the dev section, whenever there is an EU-based ROM thread, some US members ask for the wifi calling feature to be added.
But what is it?
I got a One S with the stock EU ROM (no carrier ROM) and there is also an "internet calling" option in the call settings. There, I can give the settings of a SIP account.
Is this the same thing, or do US ROMs have another additional feature?

i think its the same thing, but as far as i know its only tmobile US that supports it. it allows you to make calls via wifi in low signal areas

azzledazzle said:
i think its the same thing, but as far as i know its only tmobile US that supports it. it allows you to make calls via wifi in low signal areas
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You are correct, if I'm at home I do not have TMO coverage so I link to my WiFi and I can make calls w/o any issues. One really nice feature the TMO has!
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using XDA

So why do people ask for it to be ADDED to EU ROMs? In my EU 1.78, the feature is also here. Same when I was with 1.53

Bricolo_fr said:
So why do people ask for it to be ADDED to EU ROMs? In my EU 1.78, the feature is also here. Same when I was with 1.53
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Probably so us Americans can try EU ROMs over here!!

Bricolo_fr said:
So why do people ask for it to be ADDED to EU ROMs? In my EU 1.78, the feature is also here. Same when I was with 1.53
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Click to collapse
Probably because people do not realize wifi calling is potentially the same thing as your internet calling. Change scares people....

I don't think that it is exactly the same thing (even if it may accomplish the same thing). For TMO US folks you don't need to enter any sip info. You just enable it and choose wifi preferred, wifi only, or cellular preferred.

Yep. In fact it completely turns off your gsm radio and all calls and smses come through the WiFi. You are dialing out using your tmo number and everything. But instead using GSM towers you are using your WiFi.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using XDA

ok then this is obviously not the same as the sip one since it does not shut down the GSM radio and cannot send texts

Wifi calling on TMobile US has a couple additional benefits. First, you can add a free feature that makes it so the minutes used via Wifi calling do NOT count against your purchased minutes. Second, you can use Wifi calling when travelling outside of the US to call and text back to the US, or people in the US can call and text you. And if you have the free feature added, none of those minutes will count against your total purchased minutes either. I have used both of these benefits extensively and they are wonderful.

tylersnielsen said:
Wifi calling on TMobile US has a couple additional benefits. First, you can add a free feature that makes it so the minutes used via Wifi calling do NOT count against your purchased minutes. Second, you can use Wifi calling when travelling outside of the US to call and text back to the US, or people in the US can call and text you. And if you have the free feature added, none of those minutes will count against your total purchased minutes either. I have used both of these benefits extensively and they are wonderful.
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How do you get this free feature? I've always thought it was ludicrous that wifi calling counted against my minutes, but since I used so rarely back then I really didn't care, but recently at work I get no signal and have been using the wifi calling a lot more.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium

Interesting to read about this feature.
Is it basically possible to connect to any wifi net ( usually there is a password protection) or do you basically need your providers ones?

If the WiFi is password protected, you need the credentials to establish a WiFi connection before using this feature.
*It is not restricted to provider-only networks. You can use any WiFi network you have access to, and that you phone can connect to.

Droidificator said:
How do you get this free feature? I've always thought it was ludicrous that wifi calling counted against my minutes, but since I used so rarely back then I really didn't care, but recently at work I get no signal and have been using the wifi calling a lot more.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium
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In your t-mobile account, you should have Wifi-calling as one of the free features. If it isn't there, add it manually or call them and add it. The minutes over wifi are still logged and counted, but don't count towards you package (so you can see how much you use wifi calling, but not pay for it).

WCCobra said:
If the WiFi is password protected, you need the credentials to establish a WiFi connection before using this feature.
*It is not restricted to provider-only networks. You can use any WiFi network you have access to, and that you phone can connect to.
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Click to collapse
It seems to be comparable to the TMO "Hot-Spots" here in Germany in which you can log in for free by signing certain contracts or paying additional fee.
The other thing is connecting to WiFi resulting in a VOIP connection.
Ok, got that now. I didn't know that this feature is that popular in the States. As e.g. Germany geographically isn't a 'big' country we have a very good coverage with our big providers.
@home: I'll have to check my Fritz!Box. AVM offers an app for WiFi calling for mobiles. Interesting stuff.
Well, thanks so far for your answers and your time.

[Q] T-mob Does wife data use affect plan limit?

I just got my HTC One S on T-Mob. Connected to my wifi network at home and not to T-Mob's network, does browsing add to my data use on T-Mob? Do calls get posted to my voice minutes use?

cheddar 151 said:
I just got my HTC One S on T-Mob. Connected to my wifi network at home and not to T-Mob's network, does browsing add to my data use on T-Mob? Do calls get posted to my voice minutes use?
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The data does not count towards limits. I don't use WiFi calling.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using xda premium

In the U.S., anything you do through WiFi does not count towards your plan min/data.

I think you have to make sure the free wifi calling is "activated" through Tmo here in US. I think. I don't use it either.
I never could get the concept of Tmo charging anything at all for using your own network to route calls. Takes the strain off their system and they charge for it.

Sorry, the thread title is just too funny. How much "wife data" do you really need?
Wifi data (for web browsing, etc) shouldn't affect your mobile data limit. Wifi calling in theory should not affect your voice minutes, assuming your account and SIM card are set up for it. But I do know the older (2yr+) TmoUS accounts' terms were still deducting minutes even with WIFI calling - if you are not sure, you should call to check.

ickster said:
I think you have to make sure the free wifi calling is "activated" through Tmo here in US. I think. I don't use it either.
I never could get the concept of Tmo charging anything at all for using your own network to route calls. Takes the strain off their system and they charge for it.
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Click to collapse
I agree, however it is still funneled through their servers. It might relieve the stress on their towers, but it operates nearly the same on their network (unless you use Google Voice or some other VOIP service).