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Traveling outside the US -- WiFi Calling ??

Hey guys.
My co-worker has a G2X has well. He'll be traveling to Spain at the end of this month. Would there be a way to use Wifi calling without incurring charges?
From the T-Mobile Cust. Service rep told us we'd need to have the phone on airplane mode ON & Data Roaming Off. If we have the airplane mode ON the Wifi Calling app doesn't let us turn on Wifi Calling. So what can he do not to get any sort of bill increase while he's over there?

Having airplane mode ON obviously will disable wifi calling since it disables EVERYTHING (radio, bt, wifi, etc.).
Log onto wifi, enable wifi calling, place your call. It works overseas like it does here domestically.

GideonX said:
Having airplane mode ON obviously will disable wifi calling since it disables EVERYTHING (radio, bt, wifi, etc.).
Log onto wifi, enable wifi calling, place your call. It works overseas like it does here domestically.
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Well, if I enable Airplane Mode ON, then I can still go right after and enable Wifi and surf the web with Wifi. It even still shows Airplane Mode as being ON. The thing is that Wifi Calling doesn't like airplane mode on. Err. So What do I need to disable in order not to see any insane charges of the phone roaming onto cell towers, 2G, 3G, 4G, etc?

flexnix said:
Well, if I enable Airplane Mode ON, then I can still go right after and enable Wifi and surf the web with Wifi. It even still shows Airplane Mode as being ON. The thing is that Wifi Calling doesn't like airplane mode on. Err. So What do I need to disable in order not to see any insane charges of the phone roaming onto cell towers, 2G, 3G, 4G, etc?
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Turn data roaming off. I use the wifi calling feature from China quite a bit and to avoid crazy bills make sure data roaming stays off and only use the phone when connected to wifi.

jlevy73 said:
Turn data roaming off. I use the wifi calling feature from China quite a bit and to avoid crazy bills make sure data roaming stays off and only use the phone when connected to wifi.
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Follow this ^^^ and you are golden.

If Data Roaming is turned off, and I go to Canada, will I get an extra charge for incoming text messages?

I used to use Wi-Fi Calling internationally all the time on my G2. In order for it to activate, it has to register on a cell network first. So if you're roaming, you still need to allow the phone to pick up and show connected to the foreign cell network. Then when you activate Wi-Fi calling it disables the cell connection. Make sure you turn Wi-Fi Calling off before disconnecting from Wi-Fi. Otherwise it gets stuck and you won't be able to turn it off and get your cell signal back until you connect to a Wi-Fi signal again.
Some warnings. When first connecting to the foreign carrier's network, make sure the data connections on the phone are disabled. Otherwise the phone will automatically start syncing and T-Mobile's data roaming fees are outlandish. My G2 always disabled the cell signal when Wi-Fi Calling was enabled. I used the G2X once overseas and, because the cell signal indicator still showed active, I wasn't sure that everything I was doing was over Wi-Fi. Have your friend watch for this.

Not entirely true regarding cell network connection.
I've used wifi calling in datacenters with zero cell reception. It registers and enables without needing to connect to anything first.

Very helpful, I'll just disable mobile data all together once I am out of the US!

So data roaming being turned off will solved that. Ok. How about text messages? Will they not come in until he enables Wifi calling or if they come in he'll be charged an insane amount.

flexnix said:
So data roaming being turned off will solved that. Ok. How about text messages? Will they not come in until he enables Wifi calling or if they come in he'll be charged an insane amount.
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If you have a messaging bundle or plan, international messages you receive will be pulled from your bundle. (quote from T-Mobile's website)

So basically, if I have unlimited international texting, and I receive texts while in Canada, I'm good?

Problem is that wifi calling is sensitive to having good wifi signal and it is easy to drop wifi calling without noticing it. And you could be making texts or calls on international roaming rates and not know it.
So, can you turn off cell service some how? Not just data, but voice too? And not airplane mode, because that disables wifi calling. So is there a way to turn off just cell service?

wildcard said:
Problem is that wifi calling is sensitive to having good wifi signal and it is easy to drop wifi calling without noticing it. And you could be making texts or calls on international roaming rates and not know it.
So, can you turn off cell service some how? Not just data, but voice too? And not airplane mode, because that disables wifi calling. So is there a way to turn off just cell service?
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Just completely uncheck roaming and International roaming. Was in the carribean and I never connected to a network.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app

redmonke255 said:
Just completely uncheck roaming and International roaming. Was in the carribean and I never connected to a network.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
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However, that only works for data roaming? You will still connect to a voice network no matter what. Is there a way to not connect to a roaming voice network?

wildcard said:
However, that only works for data roaming? You will still connect to a voice network no matter what. Is there a way to not connect to a roaming voice network?
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I didn't connect to one. Under network providers, select only yours. Don't let it choose automatically.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app

Can't activate wifi calling on rooted phone?

I have a google Pixel on Android 7.1.2 on Verizon. I've had wifi calling activated the whole time that I've had the Pixel, on various cell providers, until yesterday. Decided to root my phone to be able to use "Radio Control", an app that will put the phone into Airplane mode when connected to wifi. Did that yesterday, and since then I've not been able to activate wifi calling. My phone is stock other than being rooted...I tried the Radio Control app, and it worked as it should. I've just removed it again, until I can get wifi calling activated. Oh, by the way, rooted by unlocking the bootloader, putting TWRP recovery on the phone, and then installing SuperSu via TWRP.
I've tried:
-Flushing app caches in "Storage", and flushing the phone app cache.
-Having "My Verizon" app on the phone.
-Resetting network settings.
-Activating with and without being in Airplane mode, always with wifi connected, though.
-Removing and restoring "Advanced Calling" setting.
The only thing I haven't tried is that one with the live chicken, a pentagram, and incense. That's my next thing to try.
Any suggestions? I'm really amazed that I can't activate wifi, since Verizon suggests this to stabilize wifi calling for their customers. I guess that they've never actually tried it themselves. Does anyone have wifi calling activated on a rooted Pixel? Do you remember doing anything in particular to get wifi activated, other than trying repeatedly to turn it on in the phone's settings?
By the way, the reason that wifi calling doesn't seem to work well on Verizon isn't wifi calling functionality, wifi calling itself works fine. It's because Verizon only allows the setting "Cellular preferred" for wifi calling. You cannot set "Wifi preferred" for wifi calling. This means that the cell radio is busy nearly all the time in a low cell signal area (like my house), working to make the cell signal usable. I noticed that there was much less battery drain while I was testing "Radio Control" since the phone was in Airplane mode, but I didn't have wifi calling activated at that point. Wifi was connected (of course), but wifi calling was not activated.
I hope that this is all clear, and that someone out there might remember something helpful for me. Or at least be able to tell me that wifi calling can or can't be activated on a rooted phone. If I can't root and get wifi calling activated, I'm going to sell the Pixel, as it doesn't meet my needs. I also have an iPhone that works perfectly with wifi calling on Verizon, but I'd much rather be using the Pixel.
Thanks!

I'm on Verizon and had that happen and found it was because of the theme i was using. Just had to reapply the theme to settings and all fixed. Also, I just checked the settings and you can set it to WiFi preferred.

Droid1019 said:
I'm on Verizon and had that happen and found it was because of the theme i was using. Just had to reapply the theme to settings and all fixed. Also, I just checked the settings and you can set it to WiFi preferred.
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Sounds good, just a couple of questions. First, which theme? Where do you access the particular theme in settings that you're referring to? The only theme that I've changed from default is the keyboard theme.
The other question is how can you change the wifi calling setting to WiFi preferred? Do you click on the wifi calling setting that has "Cellular preferred", and a menu comes up that includes "WiFi preferred"? I don't get that menu when I click on that setting, all I get is a setting for "roaming", and for 911 address, nothing else.
Also, which Android build are you on? I'm on Android 7.1.2, build NHG47K. Are you on that build? Or maybe N2G47E? I was wondering about that.

I'm on the 7.1.2 K build with a downloaded theme-not in settings. I think you have to set up the emergency address for wifi calling to work. And yes it's roaming preferences where you can change to WiFi preferred.

Just did a factory reset to try removing root and then activating wifi calling unrooted. Then add root again and see if wifi calling sticks or goes away....
So I'm currently unrooted and am not able to activate wifi calling. Sounds like time for a call to Verizon...Should be able to activate wifi calling with stock ROM. Have done this one before *smile*.
Things are not going well...looks like the Pixel may be heading out the door, too much time spent for no results.

RogerSC said:
Just did a factory reset to try removing root and then activating wifi calling unrooted. Then add root again and see if wifi calling sticks or goes away....
So I'm currently unrooted and am not able to activate wifi calling. Sounds like time for a call to Verizon...Should be able to activate wifi calling with stock ROM. Have done this one before *smile*.
Things are not going well...looks like the Pixel may be heading out the door, too much time spent for no results.
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Did you update emergency address? That's has to be set up for wifi calling to work. https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-208085/

Any other tips to get wifi calling enable? Whenever I click enable, it just goes to a generic error message and then nothing. So I can't even get to the screen to enter an emergency address. I have a ticket open with Verizon, but since I have an unlocked bootloader, I don't want to do a warranty exchange.

The rest of the story, used iPhone 6S Plus for a couple of months so that I could use wifi calling at home, and sold the Pixel. I did get very tired of the iPhone, even though wifi calling works perfectly on the iPhone on Verizon. So I got the new Verizon 4G/LTE Network Extender so I wouldn't need wifi calling here at home. That's allowed me to get another Pixel phone and use it at home without relying on wifi calling, now have 4/5 bars of cellular signal strength throughout my house. The Network Extender is a really nice piece of hardware, a great upgrade for the old 3G model that had no way to tell what was going on. The new 4G/LTE model has a web admin GUI page that has all kinds of useful status information on it. As well as a one-line display that shows each step in the startup sequence as it comes up.
The new Pixel works just as the old one with wifi calling on Verizon. "Cellular preferred" is the only setting available for wifi calling. Which means that if there's a low cell signal it will generally be used in preference to a strong wifi signal. Don't know why Verizon insists on this setting, I guess that they really don't want to support reliable wifi calling on the Pixel. I've thought about rooting my phone again to see if can get wifi calling working reliably, but now that the Pixel is able to use wifi calling and I don't need wifi calling at home, I'm inclined to leave it alone. In other words, getting wifi calling working perfectly isn't a good enough reason for me to root my phone *smile*. I can root it in the future if I have a good enough reason.
So the bottom line is that I'm pretty happy with the Pixel now, works as I need it to...just tried the Android O Beta, and liked what I saw there. Really glad that I'm back on Android.
Update: found an article here about how to change calling setting to "Wi-Fi preferred" for Pixel on Verizon...tried it and worked for me:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-xl/how-to/verizon-want-wifi-preferred-wifi-calling-t3622700

WiFi Calling - Setting Priority

My provider (O2 Germany) allows WiFi Calling (voice over WiFi) and I have activated it on my P20.
Is there an option to "Prefer WiFi connections when available?"
At home, the mobile networks only work near the windows. Within the flat, mobile calls often get lost so I am glad to finally have a phone that can use the WiFi network.
By default, the phone prefers the mobile network and only switches to WiFi when the mobile network is lost.
Can I set the phone to prefer WiFi and use that when available and only switch to the mobile network when WiFi is out of range?
I have read somewhere that Samsung phones provide such an option, but cannot find it on the Huawei P20 phone.
The only workaround I have found, is to switch on airplane mode and then manually switch on WiFi. That works and I can still make and receive calls that way.
I looked through Developers Options, but could not find any such setting.
Anyone?

I am searching also for that setting. My mobile network signal is to low to live and to high to die......
Would appreciate if that annoying P20 would give me the ability to decide how it should behave....
Thanks on any help!

The only way I found to force WiFi calling is to switch to airplane mode and then switch WiFi on again. Then the phone will remain constantly in WiFi calling mode. You just need to remember to switch off airplane mode when you leave the house.

I just got angry after my post an treated Google.
For the Moment i found a solution, hope that will persist...
If i go to the dual SIM Config Menu there is an option to activate LTE on both SIM Cards. It is, in my German Branded P20, the last option.
When i disable that option as mentioned on the Internet the phone takes 5s and switches automatically and, for the moment, permanent to WiFi Calling...
Crazy. Hope that solves the issue foe me permanent and maybe helps for you also?
I think there is no bigger disadvantage on deactivating the function when WiFi Calling is now working properly

I just received a new firmware update to EML-L29 8.1.0.165(C432) which adds VoLTE and VoWiFi features - I thought we already had those features, but maybe they have improved them. I have not seen any new settings and even with your suggested settings, I am not getting permanent VoWiFi.

Hi Peter,
after some days testing i have to report, that was happy to early...
Just not reliable, also with my "hack", which also caused me some other troubles in regions were i have the issue that the carrier has just build LTE transmitters and no other frequencies.
Also, WiFi Calling works not really reliable on Huawei P20. Annoying!
So we have to hope that Huawei will bring a fix for that....

Anyone enabled BT WiFi Calling with Pixel 3?

Has anyone been able to set up WiFi Calling using Pixel 3 on BT network (UK) ?
People report being able to do so with Pixel 1 and Pixel 2, but I just cannot get it working with my Pixel 3.
Anny advice/suggestions please?

Are you pay as you go or pay monthly?
That I'm aware of, Wi-Fi Calling is only available with EE and for pay monthly customers.
I know BT runs on EE network, but assuming it still works (which I'm not sure about), I would imagine they apply the same restrictions.
Anyway, I'm a EE PAYGo customer and still I do have the option to enable Wi-Fi Calling.
But still, I'm not sure it actually works.

Thanks matteventu, I am a monthly contract payer.
BT definitely DO offer wifi calling - but state that it is primarily iPhone and latest Samsung phones that they support.
Many report success with P1 and P2, so hoping P3 will be OK too....

I'm on EE contract and WiFi calling definitely works.

Stea1thmode said:
I'm on EE contract and WiFi calling definitely works.
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Seconding, WiFi calling on EE working no problems.
Btw how do you check you have VoLTE enabled? Is there any visual indicator?

M3th0s said:
Seconding, WiFi calling on EE working no problems.
Btw how do you check you have VoLTE enabled? Is there any visual indicator?
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Just make a phone call. If you see the network switches to 3G/H, then you don't have VoLTE. If during the phone call you still see the 4G/LTE icon, then you have VoLTE.
(Of course, don't be connected to WiFi to make this test call if you also have Wi-Fi calling XD)
The question indeed is: how do I get proof my Wi-Fi calling works?
I know if you enable it in the settings, then if you go in Info on this phone you see that in "mobile network" that it's not connected to LTE/HSPA, but to "IWLAN" - that from I understood stands for Wi-Fi calling.
The question is. I can enable Wi-Fi calling in the settings, and I do see IWLAN as mobile network type for calls (in place of LTE/HSPA) if I'm connected to Wi-Fi. But does this ASSURE me that I'll be using Wi-Fi for calls? Because I am a EE PAYGo customers and according to their info, I am not supposed to be able to use Wi-Fi calling. So, because I have the options it means I am using it, or the option just shows for everybody and if I'm a PAYGo customer even if I have it enablerd, it won't actually work?
Does anybody can think of any test I can do to see if it works?
Thank you!

matteventu said:
Just make a phone call. If you see the network switches to 3G/H, then you don't have VoLTE. If during the phone call you still see the 4G/LTE icon, then you have VoLTE.
(Of course, don't be connected to WiFi to make this test call if you also have Wi-Fi calling XD)
The question indeed is: how do I get proof my Wi-Fi calling works?
I know if you enable it in the settings, then if you go in Info on this phone you see that in "mobile network" that it's not connected to LTE/HSPA, but to "IWLAN" - that from I understood stands for Wi-Fi calling.
The question is. I can enable Wi-Fi calling in the settings, and I do see IWLAN as mobile network type for calls (in place of LTE/HSPA) if I'm connected to Wi-Fi. But does this ASSURE me that I'll be using Wi-Fi for calls? Because I am a EE PAYGo customers and according to their info, I am not supposed to be able to use Wi-Fi calling. So, because I have the options it means I am using it, or the option just shows for everybody and if I'm a PAYGo customer even if I have it enablerd, it won't actually work?
Does anybody can think of any test I can do to see if it works?
Thank you!
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Thanks for the tip ! Was so used to the volte icon on the s8 that I had no idea how to check .
Allow me to return the favour .
Slide down the notification pane all the way to the bottom and if you have WiFi calling it'll have your network name + WiFi calling next to it .
Screenshot for reference

M3th0s said:
Thanks for the tip ! Was so used to the volte icon on the s8 that I had no idea how to check .
Allow me to return the favour .
Slide down the notification pane all the way to the bottom and if you have WiFi calling it'll have your network name + WiFi calling next to it .
Screenshot for reference
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Ohhh I see. Then that's why I didn't know if it worked, because I never saw that "EE Wi-Fi Calling" and didn't even know it was supposed to be there with Wi-Fi enabled *and* actually working ?
Thank you, now I'm 100% sure EE stands to their terms lol and I have no Wi-Fi calling as PAYGo customer ?

Finally it works fine. I had to chat with BT Mobile and they had to activate it for me.
Happy Bunny

Wifi Calling Not Working

I got alerted to this the other day when I couldn't make a phone call in a week cellular area but strong working wifi. I have wifi calling enabled, and tried both settings on priority of wifi vs mobil for calling. What I get is "mobile network is not available. Connect to wireless network to make a call"
The mobil provider (Tello) supports wifi calling on all phones.
Any ideas?

obitest11 said:
I got alerted to this the other day when I couldn't make a phone call in a week cellular area but strong working wifi. I have wifi calling enabled, and tried both settings on priority of wifi vs mobil for calling. What I get is "mobile network is not available. Connect to wireless network to make a call"
The mobil provider (Tello) supports wifi calling on all phones.
Any ideas?
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What is the model phone, and what software is it running?

yygemmi770 said:
What is the model phone, and what software is it running?
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The problem on my Pixel 3XL was that my E911 number was not enabled at Tello. That solved it for the Pixel. However, I also have a Nexus 6 running Lineage 18 with Tmobile and that one's wifi calling doesn't work even though E911 is enabled at Tmobile. For now I'm using Google Voice on that one when I'm out of cellular range.