Wifi with no data plan - Galaxy S II General

Question for North American users of SGS2.. can you use wifi even if you have no data plan or you turned off your 3g? I have heard several people who can't use wifi if they don't turn on their 3g data plan. Hope this is not the case for SGS2...

When you're connected to wifi your data plan isnt used, and you don't need one either.

yes you can only use wifi and have no data plan. you can still leave the phone on the 3g network, just for voice calls only, so turn off mobile data.

Related

Rogers Canada 3G Network help

Just picked up a Hermes 8525 off of ebay.
While upgrading to the latest WM 6.1 roms available - I have been picking up the 3G network in my area here in Montreal.
I do not have a 3G sim card, and do not plan on using any of the data features either. I pretty much just use it as a regular phone - surf via wifi. Am I actually on the 3G network ??
I also do not have a 3G plan with Rogers. Is there any benefit to 3G if just being used as a regular wireless phone ??
If not being used for any data features, etc - will there be an additional charge applied ??
Should I just force the phone to GSM network only - instead of auto ??
Any feedback greatly appreciated
Have a good one
3G is data and voice. So, even if your not using the data plan your voice connection still auto connects to 3G network or Edge.
You wouldnt get charge for data as long as your 3G data connection is disabled.
You could force it to use a specific band (i.e. 850/1900 mhz) but you might have a bad connection on some areas since the phone auto connects to stronger signal. Hence better (sometimes) voice quality.

Looking for a tool to prevent data roaming ONLY

Hi!
I am looking for a tool to prevent data roaming ONLY: I tried Modaco Nodata but with this one you only can deactivate the connections permanentely...
I am here nere the border so sometimes the network is switching over to the one of the next country. I dont want to switch to "manual" network selection because i want to stay reachable... on the other hand, direct push / data connection should only be active in my home network.
Does anyone of you have a similar problem or a solution for this one?
I set my network to home only and when I travel to Michigan I use nodata to keep data turned off... ever since I haven't received any data roaming charges and my data service is on without worrying about roaming... the downside to this is I cannot take advantage of the extended calling area but oh well if I need to call to US with phone I turn data off and then switch to normal mode....

Turn off 3G, data use etc.

Hi,
I am leaving for vacation tomorrow and of course I would like to bring my Magic with me. I know there is apps like APNdroid and Toggle Data, but isn't there something in my settings I can untick or stuff like that, so my Magic doesn't use 3G, 2G and other data I need to pay for? I only want it to use Wi-fi, so I don't get a huge bill.
Thanks in advance.
btw, it's the scandinavian/canadien model.
Settings
Wireless
Mobile Network
Data roaming -- turn off

4G and WiFi Not Compatible?

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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).

WiFi Calling with radio disabled (for free international roaming)

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

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