Is there a way to do WiFi calling and totally disable the cellular radio? I tried the instructions here to disable the radio:
hxxp://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8993781&#post8993781
and it did just disable the cellular radio (WiFi still showed up as connected), but when I tried to make a call, it said "To place a call, first turn off Airplane mode." I'm about to leave the country, and I was waiting for this update so I could use my phone without the International roaming charges. This won't work if the phone registers with their cell towers.
Turn off Airplane mode and in the Wifi Calling app under settings or such, I don't have my phone with me at this moment, there is an option to select WiFi only calling. Right now I'm over in Ireland and this seems to work well.
It seems that the cell radio has to be enabled for WiFi calling to work. So Airplane mode can't be enabled.
Can someone verify this? I am travelling overseas soon as well and would like to know if this works.
Thanks,
tehtide said:
Turn off Airplane mode and in the Wifi Calling app under settings or such, I don't have my phone with me at this moment, there is an option to select WiFi only calling. Right now I'm over in Ireland and this seems to work well.
It seems that the cell radio has to be enabled for WiFi calling to work. So Airplane mode can't be enabled.
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Do you have your sim in? Mine has an invalid sim error anyway, but I had given up on using it in europe since it seemed like the sim was a requirement.
I am not sure the wifi calling app will provide free international calling. The app requires that you register on a GSM network in order to make a wifi call. This is so it can deduct minutes. My guess is that you either must be on the TMO network or a network that has a roaming agreement with TMO. You are charged minutes for the call, but I am not sure whether you would be charged just regular minutes or roaming minutes if you use the phone on another network.
You would think this should work, all it's doing is connecting to TMO for a connection via WiFi instead of cellular towers. Why would it care where you are in the world when connecting via the net?
I think it should work, but I think the OP was looking for free calling. My guess is that you will be charged regular roaming rates, or at least regular US rates using the wifi calling app.
I'm not looking for free calling, but to be able to make wifi calls outside of the US without getting hit with roaming charges. Unless things have changed, if you turn on your phone outside the US (and you're a US customer) you get hit with a roaming charge, period. Then you have international roaming mins on top of that. With my Blackberry, I could turn the cellular radjo off, and UMA would register my SIM over wifi. I could make calls all day long and they would just count as regular mins. Is there a way to do this without switching back to my Blackberry?
cparekh said:
I think it should work, but I think the OP was looking for free calling. My guess is that you will be charged regular roaming rates, or at least regular US rates using the wifi calling app.
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Sorry,
That is what I meant. I just can't imagine you would be charged roaming since you aren't really roaming. Using your standard minutes I can understand..
You're still registering on someone elses network regardless. I'd think it'll still know you're roaming and still charge you that rate.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
No, you're not registering on someone else's cellular network. People do this with Blackberry UMA all the time. What it is, is your phone connecting to the internet, and passing the packets along to a T-Mobile server. From that point on, it's not any different than any other cell phone call. So you can be anywhere, since the internet in say, Antartica is the same internet in the US. And they don't charge for roaming. Again, Blackberry users do this all the time.
When you are overseas with t-mobile, you only get charged for calls, sms and data used (providing you have int'l roaming activated on your account) If you do not call or text and data roaming is turned off, there should be no charges unless you call.
I would assume that as long as you select wifi only in the wifi calling app, you shouldn't be hit with any roaming charges.
Something else to keep in mind is most of the hotels in europe in which I have stayed charge for internet access.
Why not call T-Mobile and ask...I bet they have an actual answer as opposed to internet speculation.
I did call and ask. That's why I came here to ask you guys if you know of a way to turn the cellular radio off completely, and make UMA calls. The Tmo rep didn't know how to do that. Everyone I was able to get a hold of could only read off the scripts. No one had any experience with the G2 and UMA (not surprising). But what they were able to tell me is, if I turn my phone on, and I have a voicemail waiting for me, it'll send a voicemail notification to my phone, and I'll get charged for international roaming. If I have a text waiting for me, and I turn my phone on, I'll get hit with an international roaming charge. This all sucks because I went ahead and got my wife a G2 now instead of waiting for Christmas, because I thought we'd be able to make WiFi calls while we were traveling. I'm pretty sure they just thought, "oh, airplane mode! people shouldn't be making calls, so we'll block calls while in airplane mode!". Only problem is that the manual radio disable I read about gets detected as airplane mode. So for my situation, UMA calling is worthless! I guess we'll be sharing the blackberry next week.
Yup. I am experiencing the same thing. When I go in and type *#*#4636#*#*, I can disable the radio. Unfortunately, the wifi calling app cannot register on the TMO network and won't enable. Therefore, though I have wifi, I cannot use the calling app. I don't see a way around this, except maybe to set it to GSM only (which is what the wifi calling app does), and then you would not get charged for data roaming, only phone roaming.
Why not just use the skype app?
You can then call out on Wifi and it costs basically nothing, their intl' rates are so cheap. It will cost literally nothing if your wife also has the skype app on her phone.
Also, don't forget tikl or any of the dozens of mobile to mobile walky talkie apps which work over wifi. Get creative!
app isn't UMA
because it has to register with the wireless network, the app isn't UMA like on a BlackBerry. I think it's a great concept, but it would be nice for everyone if it worked the way you are hoping.
just another way the company is "stickin it to ya"
it doesn't have to register on the cellular network. that would completely defeat the purpose. I can go where there's no cellular coverage at all, and make calls. i've verified that this is possible. we have a complete dead zone at work. i've turned the phone off, turned it on in that area, enabled wifi calling, and made a call. if I turn airplane mode on for a second, it refuses to allow wifi calling. also, someone who lives in a rural area and doesn't have any coverage at all would never be able to use wifi calling. And that's the whole point of it! i don't know where people get this idea that it has to register on the cellular network? does anyone actually have proof otherwise? or is it just speculation?
I do agree that this is just a way for tmo to stick it to us!!
anyways, skype's out because my wife can't forward her number to a skype number. oh and the company who developed it is calling it UMA.
Actually you can forward any number to a skype number if you have a skype-in number. I paid 30 dollars per year for a skype in number and I use skype for 99 percent of my calling on my G2 in combination with google voice. I have the hacked version of skype that works over 3G and it works great over wifi as well.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App (and voice to text)
WiFi calling on UMA is not the same as SIP calling. Please do not expect WiFi calling to work in airplane mode as your headset... as has been said before must register with a tower.. wifi calling is like a signal enhancer. If you want sim free calling you may wanna investigate SIP. the best setup so far is Google voice + gizmo + a sip client.... I don't use sipdroid since I don't know why it needs my GPS location. But there you have it.
Related
I've got a T-mobile UK touch plus.
Currently, if I am using the data connection then all incoming voice calls are being sent to voicemail. This occurs with a GSM connection, which is part of the spec and is fine, but also with the 3G connection, which should allow the incoming voice call through. I have spoken to t-mobile and they acknowledge this problem and say they are working to fix it.
Is it likely there will be a fix for this? Is there a radio ROM already available that fixes the issue?
Sorry if this has already been covered - I searched with a pretty wide variety of terms and didn't find anything conclusive.
I have the same phone, same network... and it still rings while i have the "3g connected" symbol (3g with two arrows pointing left and right) showing.
Havent tried while connected to GPRS cuz im not sure how to force it into G mode while im near a phone.
Sorry, I should have been clearer - the phone will ring with an unused 3G connection, but not when data is actually being sent/received. This is the behaviour you would expect from GSM, but the 3G spec should allow voice calls through regardless of data - my Vodafone v1605 has no problem with this. T-mobile say it is the device not the network, I just wonder how likely I am to get a fix for this? It could be a problem with activesync using the data connection quite frequently.
A good way to test it is with google maps, or something that will maintain a constant connection, then call your phone. 3G should put the call through, but it will be rejected to voicemail instead.
FYI to put into GSM mode;
Settings>Phone>Band>Set top option to GSM, leave bottom on Auto
same problem here. but i only expreienced that randomly
i know that gprs can not handle data and voice. but 3g should, right?
Yes, 3G should be able to run voice and data streams simultaneously without any problems. I'm surprised there is not more interest in this because it seems to be a pretty major problem with the device if you cannot receive calls while browsing or otherwise using the data connection.
Me too
I experienced this too. I have an direct HTC Touch dual rather than the t-mobile branded version but I'm using a t-mobile sim. I use Exchange Activesync and am missing calls all the time.
fwiw, i experience the same with a Nokia e61 on 3-AT network with exchange active.
It seems that T-mobile have fixed their network today to allow calls while using data. Bonus.
I had been having problems getting 4G at home and just noticed that if I turn off WiFi, 4G pops right up and as soon as I re-enable WiFi (which connects to my home network) 4G disconnects. Has anyone seen this behavior? When you think about it, it makes perfect sense, and since both are enabled to connect when the other one isn't, the flip-flop is automatic. But it surprised me.
its probably because sprints 4G is based on WIFI. or it just cuts off 4G cus you dont need it anymore
I believe it works the same way as WiFi and EVDO works on older phones. When you turn on WiFi it will use that as your data connection instead of EVDO regardless if it is a crappy WiFi connection.
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Sent via the Sprint HTC EVO
Yeah, it's actually pretty cool, but if you don't know about it, it gets frustrating. I called Sprint customer service and he had me go through the battery out/in routine and go outside and try, etc. So maybe they don't know about it either!
But it makes sense for Sprint, since their data plan is unlimited and they want to avoid network overloading (are you listening AT&T? LOL). The only thing you miss on WiFi are location-based sevices that rely on GPS (navigation, some weather products, etc.).
dkdontforget said:
its probably because sprints 4G is based on WIFI. or it just cuts off 4G cus you dont need it anymore
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WiFi and 802.16e aren't all that similar. LOTS of differences between the protocols.
Maybe there's some isolation problems on your device as Sprint is using their 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings for their 4G network.
4g network and 3g network both will shut off when enabling wifi. Why have 2 forms of data going at the same time? Its not gunna use both to double your speeds.
You wont lose any GPS features. Turn on wifi and load up Google Maps, it will find your location exact.
When making calls and sending text it uses 1x so you will still receive everything except for MMS. Maybe they fixed it to where you can receive them even when on wifi with the Evo, not 100% sure.
4g and WiFi are both data only connections. You don't need two data connections simultaneously so it is smart enough to auto disable one to save battery. It would also cause routing problems.
Every phone does this LOL When you switch on Wifi they turn off 2g,3g,4g etc because you can't use 2 data connections at the same time.
I'm curious why you would want 4g and wifi on at the same time?
I thought this was pretty common knowledge (on any Android phone)... And I also thought it was done for battery conservation reasons as much as anything else. WiFi's a simpler point to point connection and from what I understand it sucks less power than 3G or 4G which is constantly checking for additional cell towers in case you've moved, etc.
If you're at home or at work w/a stable WiFi connection you should be able to preserve more battery power by using it, within the settings you can even set it so the phone doesn't revert to 3G when it goes to sleep (the default setting IIRC), otherwise it does this and only jumps back to WiFi when you wake it ('till you're out of range anyway).
I agree with all the comments. And if the Sprint Customer Service guys had said, "Hey, you idiot...it's supposed to do that," then I wouldn't have posted. But the fact that he was as stumped as I was prompted me to post (we all know that Sprint gets all it's info from reading these forums...LOL).
I got an email while on a call without wifi. I'm in dallas. Anyone else getting data and voice now?
Has been possible since the beginning of time as long as you are on 3G
I concur. ↑
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Really? I've never been able to do that until recently.
Usually when I'd start a call I'd lose the 3G icon and if I received email while in call it wouldn't show up until after I hung up.
Couldn't mess with data without wifi.
Used to do this on my cliq and G1 as well...
Odd.
Also been doing both (on TMob 3G) since February...
Any gsm phone can do that, but it is impossible for cdma
Your phone may have been set to WCDMA only up until now.
chalk that up as a win for GSM and a lose for CDMA
JCopernicus said:
Your phone may have been set to WCDMA only up until now.
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WCDMA is 3G, it has nothing to do with CDMA
In a weak 3G signal area, the phone usually does a handover and transfers the call to the GSM network when the 3G signal falls under some threshold, and GSM doesn't support simultaneous voice and data (icon disappears while on a call)
maybe you have better 3G coverage now and your nexus doesn't need to go the GSM route
I've noticed problems with using data and voice together too. What seems to happen is that it works ok at first, but the instant you lose 3G it never comes back until the call is over, no matter how good your signal. Very frustrating when trying to use your data while on a long call.
Both AT&T and T-Mobile (as can any GSM carrier worldwide) can do voice and data at the same time as long as your phone has a "3G" connection visible while on the phone call. This has always been possible.
What you may see happen is that if you wrap your hands around the bottom of the phone during a call, the signal may drop to "E" or Edge. You can't use data and voice at the same time if your phone is on Edge.
To alleviate this, use a wired or Bluetooth headset, or hold the phone with your fingers rather than your whole palm.
Paul22000 said:
What you may see happen is that if you wrap your hands around the bottom of the phone during a call, the signal may drop to "E" or Edge. You can't use data and voice at the same time if your phone is on Edge.
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Have you ever seen my problem where once the signal drops to Edge it will never go back to 3G? It doesn't seem like normal behavior to me but it seems to always happen when I need my data during the call. I've been stuck on multi-hour calls where my phone refused to go back to 3G almost from the beginning, and then the second I hang up the phone goes right back to a 3G signal with full bars again. Very frustrating!
pfmiller said:
I've noticed problems with using data and voice together too. What seems to happen is that it works ok at first, but the instant you lose 3G it never comes back until the call is over, no matter how good your signal. Very frustrating when trying to use your data while on a long call.
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the ATT 3G network is not setup to do handoffs from gsm back to 3g. it currently will ONLY handoff from 3G to gsm during a call, and if you are still on your call, it will not switch back until you hang up. in the future this can be enabled both ways. tmobile apparently is setup the same way for now. so you're experience is normal until they reconfigure their network.
Actually it depends on the phone hardware. It IS possible to use GPRS and voice as well if the hardware supports it, its not only something available on 3G/UMTS/WCDMA. There is a pretty even split between class A and class B phones these days, you should look up the specs of the phone you're using.
Nearly all 3G devices allow you to use data and voice together since it isnt timeslot based and so voice and data is logically split and not time divided. This means you dont need specially designed hardware to do it, just the processing power to do it.
Class A
Can be connected to GPRS service and GSM service (voice, SMS), using both at the same time.
Class B
Can be connected to GPRS service and GSM service (voice, SMS), but using only one or the other at a given time. During GSM service (voice call or SMS), GPRS service is suspended, and then resumed automatically after the GSM service (voice call or SMS) has concluded.
Class C
Are connected to either GPRS service or GSM service (voice, SMS). Must be switched manually between one or the other service.
@kam187, thanks for that. I've been with T-Mobile since they were Voicestream, about 10 years now. And I thought I was making voice and data connections with my Nokia phone years ago, before their 3G rollout.
Here is the last phone I used before going the G1 route.
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61-1322.php
Yep E61 is on nokia's list of Class A devices:
http://wiki.forum.nokia.com/index.p...s_supporting_GPRS_Class_A_(Dual_Transfer_Mode)
Hey guys, new to the xda forums after lurking here for the last two weeks after getting my N4.
To fully describe my situation, I'm still in college and on most college campuses, signal is very shaky while strong Wi-Fi exists everywhere. Therefore, I initially thought GV + VoIP would be a great option if I dont have signal. However, I'll also be traveling a lot this year in the summer and in those cases, I'll be relying on Tmobile data (yeah...not sure how reliable that'll be in a lot of areas in the U.S.) so I'll probably want to call using T-mobile signal. Being the phone noob that I am, I'm unsure if GV + VoIP will allow me to use the wi-fi in campus to make calls during the fall + winter and also allow me to still make calls with the Tmobile minutes I have in the summer when wi-fi is shaking and I don't really want to trust in Tmobile data strength in a lot of rural U.S. areas.
So TLDR: does GV + VoIP have an easy option to switch between using VoIP with wiFI and disabling VoIP and using carrier minutes to call?
Thanks in advance and sorry if it's a stupid question haha
Use grooveip. You can try sipdroid also but grooveip is better I think.
A thread with a lot of good info....http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646755
Use groove ip and set it to only use while on Wi-Fi. Problem solved
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
I normally use Talkatone (a Groove IP alternative better IMO) and turn on airplane mode and turn on WiFi. I have T-mobile but I only use it as a backup for when I find I am not getting my WiFi signal for the hotspot I always carry with me. So if I need to make a T-mobile call I just turn off airplane mode and use the native dialer to make the call.
So I know Wi-Fi Calling helps if you have little to no reception on a place, so you can use the Wi-Fi to receive and make calls...
But I live in a city where there's good 4G signal all around (even in the metro); so my question is: Is there any point on turning it on?
I'm just curious because it feels like it drains the battery of my Pixel 4 when I'm at home with Wi-Fi calling turned on (could be a placebo effect)
Anyone who uses Wi-Fi calling who can give an input on this will be greatly appreciated!
AJMeisterXD said:
So I know Wi-Fi Calling helps if you have little to no reception on a place, so you can use the Wi-Fi to receive and make calls...
But I live in a city where there's good 4G signal all around (even in the metro); so my question is: Is there any point on turning it on?
I'm just curious because it feels like it drains the battery of my Pixel 4 when I'm at home with Wi-Fi calling turned on (could be a placebo effect)
Anyone who uses Wi-Fi calling who can give an input on this will be greatly appreciated!
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I too live in the city where my T-Mobile signal is pretty good in most places. I set WiFi calling option to "cellular as a priority" and if there is no cell service and there is WiFi connection, then phone would use WiFi calling ability.
Charkatak said:
I too live in the city where my T-Mobile signal is pretty good in most places. I set WiFi calling option to "cellular as a priority" and if there is no cell service and there is WiFi connection, then phone would use WiFi calling ability.
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You have that?? My provider doesn't even give me that option; it will always use Wi-Fi calling whenever I'm connected to any Wi-Fi and then Cellular when I'm not.
(EE, please provide your customer more options lol)
Thanks anyway!
AJMeisterXD said:
You have that?? My provider doesn't even give me that option; it will always use Wi-Fi calling whenever I'm connected to any Wi-Fi and then Cellular when I'm not.
(EE, please provide your customer more options lol)
Thanks anyway!
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Yes, T-Mobile in the US has few features that work on many popular brands of unlocked models. For example each mobile operator sells their own versions of their branded phones but not many of these operators would allow unlocked phones to take advantage of the features(wifi calling, VoLTE, video calling...)