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[Q] VoLTE and WiFi calling

Does anyone know if this phone will ever support VoLTE and WiFi calling on T-Mobile? I was hoping that since the pop astro supports these features, hopefully they'd come to this phone as well.

ffelice said:
Does anyone know if this phone will ever support VoLTE and WiFi calling on T-Mobile? I was hoping that since the pop astro supports these features, hopefully they'd come to this phone as well.
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Unknown but since Hangouts Dialer works fine why not use that for your wifi calls?

According to some, Lollipop was/is supposed to have WiFi Calling baked into the firmware for all the phones running it. And if your SIM card supported it, it would automatically enable it to be used. Have yet to see that though. I don't think this phone will ever get WiFi Calling since it's not a phone released through T-Mobile and doesn't have any T-Mobile software installed. VoLTE on the other hand should be already be supported on the phone.
It doesn't seem likely this phone will receive many updates either. Hope to be proven wrong though in the near future.

I've been using hangouts and it works OK, but gets blocked by my work WiFi requiring that I run a VPN if I want to use it. Hopefully VoLTE will start working, but for now it's not working in an area where I've previously been able to use it with a note 4. Thanks for your input.

I wish they find ways to put wifi calling feature on this thing in tmobile network soon.

Tagging along. I work in a building with a large basement area where I don't get cellular signal, but they have wireless access points installed in the area. It'd be nice to still make/receive calls down there as I'm down there frequently.

Only way we will see WiFi Calling on this device is if we get CM 13 ported over because CM 13 has native built in WiFi calling.

brian117 said:
Only way we will see WiFi Calling on this device is if we get CM 13 ported over because CM 13 has native built in WiFi calling.
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No. You need radio firmware with WiFi calling capabilities. That has nothing to do with CM13. Your device firmware HAS to support it. You will never see WiFi calling at that level with Idol 3.

Where can i able to enable Volte..

How do you activate wi-fi calling?

Does anyone know how to activate wi-fi calling on the Z5? I figured it'd be a menu setting, but I can't find it. I'm using the Taiwan version of the Compact and am using MetroPCS here in the States.
Thanks.

To answer my own question. It appears that wi-fi calling is only available with some carrier phones. So for instance, EE in England says on their setup page,
"WiFi Calling is only available on the EE version of the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact, bought directly from us in one of our stores, online at EE.co.uk, through our telesales team, or through corporate sales if you are a corporate customer."
So, I guess my question now is, is there a way to flash the phone so that I can get this feature on my non-EE phone? My carrier, MetroPCS, does allow wi-fi calling, but they don't sell the Z5 (and likely won't ever sell it).

You can try flashing the EE ROM with flashtool and see if you have that option. You will get carrier specific bloatware as well.

Would I be able to delete the bloatware? And I'm new to Android. When I flash, does it delete all of my settings and downloads and whatnot? I'm assuming I can back them up someplace in case it does, but like I say, I'm new to this. Also, where would I get the EE Rom from?

Look for Xperifirm. Download and install. You can get the firmware there. Next download flashtool version 0.9.19.10. You can bundle the firmware files into a ftf and flash, both with flashtool. Read the respective guides. To keep data, look at options when flashing and choose not to wipe user data. I would type it up but the instructions are on XDA, just search.

Neither WiFi calling or VoLTE will not work on the Sony Z5 unless your carrier/network offers the Sony Z5 for sale directly.
Note, WiFi Calling and VoLTE are two separate features but similar network functions on the operators side.
Note, MetroPCS is a sub-brand of the T-Mobile USA network so Metro is pretty much TMo USA.
Since T-Mobile USA does not offer the Z5 you will not be able to get WiFi calling working. In order for WiFi Calling or VoLTE to be supported the network operator must customize the ROM to include the WiFi calling and/or VoLTE network configurations. Unlike the typical SIM card and APN settings which are industry standard and can be adjusted manually. WiFi calling and VoLTE are somewhat more complex and include carrier/network specific security certificates to work. Apple can get away with supporting WiFi calling and VoLTE simply by swapping SIMs because the T-Mobile configs are loaded into their core iOS software which goes out to everyone around the world. (Probaly one of the reasons the iOS eats up so much storage...but i digress) Android runs much leaner and does not carry all the extra configs for all global networks...hence a carrier (i.e. T-Mo US) tweaked version of the Z5 ROM would be required for this all to work.
If T-Mobile USA offers the Z5 in the future you may be able to unlock the boot-loader and flash the T-Mobile specific ROM onto your phone and get WiFi Calling and VoLTE to work. But if T-Mo USA never offers the Z5 then you will never have WiFi calling supported.
Hope that helps....
WiFi calling and VoLTE are pretty much the same thing...just VoIP. And in most operators case WiFi Calling and VoLTE are the same back end network call processing systems. VoLTE is easier for the operator to secure as the customer is using the operators LTE and IP network. WiFi calling is seen on fewer operators as it requires more security since you can access the operators network from any public or private IP network.
---------- Post added at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 PM ----------
and in theory you could extract the WiFi calling stack form the EE network's Z5 ROM and load it into a custom ROM. That would give you the software capability to support WiFi calling....But you will still need the T-Mobile USA WiFi calling fqdn for the WiFi border controller and their security certificates which are typically specific to a handset model. And again since TMo does not offer the Z5 there are no Z5 certificates.

Ah, well that sucks.

Yeah I feel ya, I love WiFi calling too

Some network providers have their own apps to allow it. Like in the UK, O2 network has an app called TU go

All hope isn't lost - Android M is supposed to have a provision for wifi calling. I've read posts of people with Nexus 6's on M (google play editions, so no carrier specific models) that have been able to use wifi calling. The current loss of band 12 (hoping this will change too) as well as the loss of wifi calling as a fallback has been the only drawback to this otherwise excellent handset. I absolutely love the thing. It just works, no fuss.

I know this isn't helpful, especially for those outside of the US, but this is why I ported my number to google voice a long time ago. VOIP works great over Wifi for me most of the time and when I have LTE reception, I can still use Voip albeit with increased data consumption.

shizenyasuya said:
I know this isn't helpful, especially for those outside of the US, but this is why I ported my number to google voice a long time ago. VOIP works great over Wifi for me most of the time and when I have LTE reception, I can still use Voip albeit with increased data consumption.
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Do you know of any guides for how this is supposed to work? I have Google Voice, and I have Hangouts, but I'm not sure how they're supposed to work in tandem for wi-fi calling. Would I be forced to actually open up the Google Voice app in order to make wi-fi calls? How is that any different from something like Talkatone?

Adrift98 said:
Do you know of any guides for how this is supposed to work? I have Google Voice, and I have Hangouts, but I'm not sure how they're supposed to work in tandem for wi-fi calling. Would I be forced to actually open up the Google Voice app in order to make wi-fi calls? How is that any different from something like Talkatone?
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Yeah, that's a bit of a pain in the ar$3. I install google voice and hangouts on any phone/tablet I get, Google voice is necessary to route all outgoing calls through GV so that my GV number shows up on my call partner's caller ID. (even though you can dial directly from the native phone dialer) I install Hangouts to manage sms and google talk (now just google hangouts but specified to avoid... or contribute to, (as the case may be) confusion) messages. You can also dial directly from Google Hangouts (this is the only option when you're only using Wifi, without cellular signal) So my thought flow kinda goes like this.
To make a call:
1)check for cell signal, if there is signal, use the native dialer to place a call
2) if there is only WiFi, use hangouts (or hangouts dialer) to place a call
Receiving calls: (If you need help I can tell you the specific settings)
1)when the phone rings, determine if it's ringing via Hangouts or the native phone app
2) check for cellular signal and wifi signal
3) if cell signal is 2g only, only answer with the native phone app (sometimes hangouts will ring first) and I have to wait for the native phone app to realize there is a call coming in (forwarded of course to my cellular provider number from GV)
4)if connected to WiFi, or I have LTE coverage (sometimes even on 3g) pick up the hangouts ring.
Sometimes I do miss calls because I'm waiting for the native phone app to ring when I'm on 2g, but hangouts rings first and the native phone app doesn't ring, but those instances are fairly infrequent and I can just call them back.
---------- Post added at 04:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 AM ----------
Adrift98 said:
Do you know of any guides for how this is supposed to work? I have Google Voice, and I have Hangouts, but I'm not sure how they're supposed to work in tandem for wi-fi calling. Would I be forced to actually open up the Google Voice app in order to make wi-fi calls? How is that any different from something like Talkatone?
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Also, sorry I've never used Talkatone, so I don't know if it works any differently. You don't have to have google voice installed to make / receive wifi calls via hangouts. you just have to have opted in to hangouts on your google voice account. The ONLY reason I still install GV is to make sure that when I make outgoing calls from the native phone app, my GV number shows up on the recipient's caller ID. They should really just bake this into hangouts and completely depreciate the GV app.

You could port the t-mobile wifi calling apps from the z3. I ported wifi calling to my att g2 from the t-mobile rom. It's not really that hard if you know how to read logcats

Many retail mobiles have "Wifi Calling" function but not any menu entry to enable , The APP can check the hidden function and enable it if can use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.widget7.wifi.calling

WiFi Calling on Mate 9 - Is it really there?

In the English USER manual for the Mate 9, there is a section under CALL SETTINGS that tells you how to Enable VoWi-Fi. They actually use this wording in the directions " Touch SETTINGS > Wi-Fi calling"
WiFi calling options are NOT present in the call settings menu for my Mate 9 (6GB/128 GB Model MHA-AL00 / Build Number: MHA-AL00 C00B137). I have the 2 SIM version sold by a HK seller on eBay.
My questions...
Is the manual is describing something different from the WiFi Calling from T Mobile that I'm very familiar with?
I use T Mobile as my USA carrier and have a T Mobile phone that does Wi Fi calling very nicely.
I put the same T Mobile SIM in my Mate 9...but the WiFi calling options STILL don't appear.
Is the Mate 9 really compatible with WiFi calling? What am I doing wrong?
Thank you.

onepiece said:
In the English USER manual for the Mate 9, there is a section under CALL SETTINGS that tells you how to Enable VoWi-Fi. They actually use this wording in the directions " Touch SETTINGS > Wi-Fi calling"
WiFi calling options are NOT present in the call settings menu for my Mate 9 (6GB/128 GB Model MHA-AL00 / Build Number: MHA-AL00 C00B137). I have the 2 SIM version sold by a HK seller on eBay.
My questions...
Is the manual is describing something different from the WiFi Calling from T Mobile that I'm very familiar with?
I use T Mobile as my USA carrier and have a T Mobile phone that does Wi Fi calling very nicely.
I put the same T Mobile SIM in my Mate 9...but the WiFi calling options STILL don't appear.
Is the Mate 9 really compatible with WiFi calling? What am I doing wrong?
Thank you.
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The phone supports wifi calling but it's not a universal standard so each carrier does it differently (as far as I know). So it's probably not supported with US carriers, especially when it's not even released there.
I believe the phone might need a software update specifically to support it for T-Mobile. I think most carriers don't support VoLTE/Wi-Fi calling, so that might be why it has no option out of the box but a regional firmware update should enable it.

Being compatible doesn't mean it will just work. It means it will work if the network supports it.
T-Mobile will make sure that the phones it sells for its network will have the right software. An imported phone won't have that software and if you are unlucky it might not be directly upgradeable.
This is one reason why it's always a bit of a risk to import phones from another region.

WiFi Calling ...a few potentially useful tid bits...
Thank you to all! I'm pretty sure each carrier will keep the process as "proprietary" as humanly possible for obviou$ reason$.
Here is a tid bit I learned from Apple support on the topic of WiFi calling. As you may know, Apple 6S onwards support WiFi Calling. I was curious about how carriers 'support' WiFi calling on an unbranded / unlocked WiFi capable iPhone.
Here's the punch line from Apples...
If you use WiFi Calling on say T Mo..and then you want to pop in an AT&T SIM card....get this....you MUST do a factory re-set to enable WiFi calling with the newly placed SIM... Can you believe that? I change SIMS like underwear! Doing a factory reset for WiFi calling is impractical for me...

Does anyone know of any further progress on wifi calling from T-Mobile for this phone? Please share.

Well I have been able to make calls through the Google Hangouts dialer on WiFi, but doesn't seem to work to receive calls. Not sure how well it would work if I tried to port my number over to Google Voice, looked this morning said it would cost me $20 to do it.
But I'm likely returning my phone, not being able to get calls at home because the service in my building is poor... Pretty depressing because the phone is badass.

Google voice is not wifi calling as a feature set from either the phone manufacturer nor T-Mobile.
Wifi calling is when your mobile provider can service a connection over wifi, regardless of there being a cell signal or not. It treats your number as PSTN over wifi. Over it's (provider) servers.
Google voice is not wifi calling.
But I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

ravennyc said:
Google voice is not wifi calling as a feature set from either the phone manufacturer nor T-Mobile.
Wifi calling is when your mobile provider can service a connection over wifi, regardless of there being a cell signal or not. It treats your number as PSTN over wifi. Over it's (provider) servers.
Google voice is not wifi calling.
But I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
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Google voice is wifi calling if you have a gv number lol

"Wi-Fi Calling is the conventional name for a technology that allows cellular packets from your phone to be transferred to your carrier over the internet, and injected back into the cellular network as if they'd been beamed over the air.
Unlike services like Google Hangouts and Skype, which let you talk to other people using call forwarding or an internet-based interface, Wi-Fi Calling lets you use your actual carrier phone number over the internet. Wi-Fi Calling is also distinct from VoIP technology, which lets you use an internet-connected phone exactly as you would a landline. VoIP transfers your voice over the internet to the switched telephone network, whereas Wi-Fi Calling connects your voice to your mobile carrier's network using the internet instead of cell towers."
So, it's not wifi calling as highlighted as a feature by mobile manufacturers and thus offered/utilized by mobile providers as a result.
This thread is specifically for the above mentioned capability. It would be best to not dilute the discussion with alternate options via additional apps. It would be misleading and misdirecting fellow readers.

The USA version does.
We have to wait for a USA firmware upgrade becomes available and update to that. If you have no interest in using funkyhuawe8, then probably sol unless they include in international ROM at some point.
Which k doubt because it would be included already.

intruda119 said:
The USA version does.
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The USA version does what? Are you saying it supports WiFi calling? I don't see the option on my USA version.

dscline said:
The USA version does what? Are you saying it supports WiFi calling? I don't see the option on my USA version.
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Ive seen wifi calling listed on usa version of the phone. Few other little things thats not available on my international l29
What firmware are you on?

intruda119 said:
What firmware are you on?
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b138 We have VoLTE in our firmware, but I've not seen any evidence of VoWiFi.

intruda119 said:
Ive seen wifi calling listed on usa version of the phone. Few other little things thats not available on my international l29
What firmware are you on?
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Where do you see wifi calling on the US version? I have one and can't find it.

It was around USA release. Not that important to me. Sure search will pull up something.
Edit.
It was volte I was thinking about. Until they release a update with wifi calling , Hangouts is the workaround

intruda119 said:
It was around USA release. Not that important to me. Sure search will pull up something.
Edit.
It was volte I was thinking about. Until they release a update with wifi calling , Hangouts is the workaround
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From everything I've seen the carriers have to approve devices for them to be able to utilize WiFi calling. It's one of the downfalls of having an unlocked device in the US as it's highly unlikely that a carrier will approve it.

That's correct, the while the firmware from Mate 9 supports it, there would likely be carrier/provider specifications that requires to be enabled. Huawei clearly does not have the green light from TMO for this else it would have been available.
This is the same reason, a TMO specific phone will have wifi calling, where as its international counterpart wound have it...
---------- Post added at 11:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:38 PM ----------
So using funkyhuawe8 will enable carrier (TMO) wifi calling?
Is this working for anyone on a L29 international version?

Thank you intruda119.
Any way you could shed some light on what exactly needs to be done using FunkyHuawe8 to enable wifi-calling please.

ravennyc said:
Thank you intruda119.
Any way you could shed some light on what exactly needs to be done using FunkyHuawe8 to enable wifi-calling please.
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So does this have wifi calling on T-Mobile or not ?

No.

VZW WIFI Calling on unlocked Note 20 ultra 5G

Found out the guy lied. So the US unlocked N20U does work with VZW wifi calling.

It definitely does work with my N20U on Verizon.

The only differences between the Unlocked and VZW version are:
1. Native Verizon video calling doesn't work on unlocked, but the integrated Duo video calling is better anyways.
2. Verizon's model doesn't have the Samsung "Smart Call" feature for Caller ID. Instead, it uses Verizon's app.
3. Verizon's version has the Verizon bootscreen and a ton of bloatware, especially games, news apps, and what not. Fortunately, most can be uninstalled, and the rest can be disabled using ADB.

Guyinlaca said:
The only differences between the Unlocked and VZW version are:
1. Native Verizon video calling doesn't work on unlocked, but the integrated Duo video calling is better anyways.
2. Verizon's model doesn't have the Samsung "Smart Call" feature for Caller ID. Instead, it uses Verizon's app.
3. Verizon's version has the Verizon bootscreen and a ton of bloatware, especially games, news apps, and what not. Fortunately, most can be uninstalled, and the rest can be disabled using ADB.
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I can confirm all of the above. I have an unlocked phone, on U1 firmware, with a Verizon SIM. Wifi calling works. There is no "Advanced Calling" menu in Connection Settings, but there's a toggle for VoLTE and it was switched on by default. No 4G icon, but rather a LTE+ icon is shown in status bar. The only thing I haven't found a workaround for is the native video calling. I cannot initiate it (phone app does not show the option when I'm on a call with another Verizon phone) and if another Verizon phone attempts to initiate a native video call, it tells them that I cannot accept video calls. I checked my VZW account settings on a PC, and despite the video call option being on and not blocked, native calling doesn't work, as described above. Duo works fine for video. I was able to get Visual Voicemail by installing the app that I go from another thread. I installed it before checking to see if the U1 firmware added it by default, so I can't say for sure that it wasn't there already.
Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

So I had an interesting observation. I flashed my Verizon Note 10+ to U1 firmware and noticed a drastic reduction in data speeds. After getting the Note 20 Ultra, I noticed the data speeds were nearly doubled. I then disabled a ton of Verizon and Samsung apps, and my data speeds dropped drastically as well. Through the process of elimination, I found that the "My Verizon Services" app seems to have a major impact on data speeds. As long as I keep that enabled on the Verizon firmware, data speeds are blazing fast.
Is it possible that Verizon uses apps to prioritize or de-prioritize data speeds? I'd be curious if one could do a side by side of the Unlocked vs Verizon firmware.

ferzmedina said:
I can confirm all of the above. I have an unlocked phone, on U1 firmware, with a Verizon SIM. Wifi calling works. There is no "Advanced Calling" menu in Connection Settings, but there's a toggle for VoLTE and it was switched on by default. No 4G icon, but rather a LTE+ icon is shown in status bar. The only thing I haven't found a workaround for is the native video calling. I cannot initiate it (phone app does not show the option when I'm on a call with another Verizon phone) and if another Verizon phone attempts to initiate a native video call, it tells them that I cannot accept video calls. I checked my VZW account settings on a PC, and despite the video call option being on and not blocked, native calling doesn't work, as described above. Duo works fine for video. I was able to get Visual Voicemail by installing the app that I go from another thread. I installed it before checking to see if the U1 firmware added it by default, so I can't say for sure that it wasn't there already.
Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
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Thanks for sharing your observations regarding wifi calling. How can one tell it is working? I am used to older phones advising that wifi calling was in use via text in the phone app. I'm not seeing this notification on my new unlocked T-Mobile-branded N20U with Verizon SIM.
I also noticed the VoLTE toggle in the phone app, switched on and greyed-out, can't be deselected. Of course they don't want to support anything but VoIP anymore. What is the behavior, if the cell signal is decent it won't use wifi? It can't be forced to prefer wifi, can it? I used the trick of putting it in airplane mode, then turn on wifi to try and force it to wifi call. It said it couldn't make the call in airplane mode, which is not encouraging regarding wifi calling being functional on this phone/provider combo.

[email protected] said:
Thanks for sharing your observations regarding wifi calling. How can one tell it is working? I am used to older phones advising that wifi calling was in use via text in the phone app. I'm not seeing this notification on my new unlocked T-Mobile-branded N20U with Verizon SIM.
I also noticed the VoLTE toggle in the phone app, switched on and greyed-out, can't be deselected. Of course they don't want to support anything but VoIP anymore. What is the behavior, if the cell signal is decent it won't use wifi? It can't be forced to prefer wifi, can it? I used the trick of putting it in airplane mode, then turn on wifi to try and force it to wifi call. It said it couldn't make the call in airplane mode, which is not encouraging regarding wifi calling being functional on this phone/provider combo.
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From what I've found, if you put another carrier's SIM in a truly unlocked carrier branded phone, it should prompt you to apply your carrier settings upon boot. For example when I put a Spectrum SIM in a Verizon phone, it "converted" the CSC (Carrier settings and boot logo) to Spectrum.
My recommendation is to attempt to get the SIM to switch the CSC automatically. If not, use the patched ODIN to flash the Unlocked U1 firmware, and optionally you can flash Verizon from there if Verizon's Video Calling is a must.

Guyinlaca said:
From what I've found, if you put another carrier's SIM in a truly unlocked carrier branded phone, it should prompt you to apply your carrier settings upon boot. For example when I put a Spectrum SIM in a Verizon phone, it "converted" the CSC (Carrier settings and boot logo) to Spectrum.
My recommendation is to attempt to get the SIM to switch the CSC automatically. If not, use the patched ODIN to flash the Unlocked U1 firmware, and optionally you can flash Verizon from there if Verizon's Video Calling is a must.
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Thanks for the detailed response. I was a little concerned about the T-Mobile branding, and what that truly meant at the software level. I installed the Verizon SIM to this factory-reset phone. If it was going to switch CSC I think it would have happened then. It went through the usual setup steps, but still displays T-Mobile screen at boot. I'm not sure what else I would do to "get the SIM to switch the CSC automatically".
Would you agree with my conclusion that wifi calling isn't working based on the outgoing call failure when in airplane mode with wifi on?
If there is better, more-unlocked firmware I'm not opposed to flashing it. It's been a while since I've played with rooting and custom ROMS, but I'm guessing stock firmware is a lower-risk activity on an expensive phone.
I'll refer to this link to try and flash to unlocked U1 firmware, hopefully that will allow wifi calling compatibility:
OTA and Non-OTA Firmware for N986U and N986U1

No way to get Wifi Calling working with non-network phone ?

Hi,
I found one short thread about this. But are we sure that there is no other way to use Wifi Calling ? I have a non-network phone, an LG G7. I don't want to change it ATM. Why do the networks tie Wifi Calling to the firmware like this and is there any way round it ? Cheers.

With my carrier, Wifi Calling only works with its SIM on any phone with any firmware on which Carrier Services runs or can be installed. No SIM no Wifi Calling.
You can look for services that will connect you via vpn and allow WiFi Calling, but you are always identified. Calls cannot be anonymous.