Database Users

Google Talk on Epic 4G questions

Okay, just to step back a little, I installed Google Talk to my Gmail on my desktop pc (free phone calls to anywhere any phone in the USA). It works over internet (VOIP) via wifi at home.
I have Google Talk on my Epic 4G.
1. Does it work the same way as on the desktop?
2. Does it work over wifi for true VOIP?
3. If so, are the calls free or do they come off my minutes plan?
I had set my Epic to "wifi" mode and made a test call to my other phone. It went thru but- did it really go thru wifi or did my Epic sense it was a phone call and routed it via 3G?
If indeed Google talk does VOIP phone calls from the Epic, then there would be no need for me to get one of those "Airaves" as I only have 0-1 bars inside my house but 3 bars minimum outside (3G and 4G)

Voice AND data at the same time on the tmobile network?

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

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.
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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.

Anybody use GrooveIP/Talkatone over 3G?

So i had setup and tested both apps at home over WiFi and the talk quality seemed perfectly fine, but I was a bit disappointed when I went out on a work day and tried to make some calls over 3G, it did not work out so well. It also does not help that I live in such a rural area with lack of coverage in some areas, but I can say that voice calls on my phone come in crystal clear. I've had either static, echo or bad delay time in voice transition.
So I'm wondering what other people have experienced trying to make VOIP calls over 3 G instead of WiFi, and if anyone has any tips, other than just use my phone.
I think the apps need better compression for when they work on 3G.

teeth_03 said:
So i had setup and tested both apps at home over WiFi and the talk quality seemed perfectly fine, but I was a bit disappointed when I went out on a work day and tried to make some calls over 3G, it did not work out so well. It also does not help that I live in such a rural area with lack of coverage in some areas, but I can say that voice calls on my phone come in crystal clear. I've had either static, echo or bad delay time in voice transition.
So I'm wondering what other people have experienced trying to make VOIP calls over 3 G instead of WiFi, and if anyone has any tips, other than just use my phone.
I think the apps need better compression for when they work on 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really just sounds like a carrier issue. I use groove IP with att grandfathered unlimited data and when I'm at work call quality is considerably lower because of spotty signal. When you say phone calls come in clear do you mean a regular cell? You can have a strong cell signal with bad data connectivity
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Project Fi at home where Tmobile and sprint signals are weak.

i am considering project Fi.
But where i live there is not tmobile signal, my friends come here with tmobile homes and they dont get signal(they live half a mile away).
Sprint coverage map says that there is "fair" signal.
so i was wondering if with project FI i dont have signal at home, the nexus 6p will switch to my wifi network and i will be able to receive and make calls?

buton2 said:
i am considering project Fi.
But where i live there is not tmobile signal, my friends come here with tmobile homes and they dont get signal(they live half a mile away).
Sprint coverage map says that there is "fair" signal.
so i was wondering if with project FI i dont have signal at home, the nexus 6p will switch to my wifi network and i will be able to receive and make calls?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I activated my Project Fi sim earlier in the week. T-Mobile is not strong around my house (I had to switch to an AT&T sim when I was with StraightTalk) and I'm not sure about Sprint. So far, while I'm at home, the majority of my calls are using my home wifi. I haven't had the chance to test a continuous call as I'm driving home to see if it switches to wifi, as Google indicates it will.

jrstaples1 said:
I activated my Project Fi sim earlier in the week. T-Mobile is not strong around my house (I had to switch to an AT&T sim when I was with StraightTalk) and I'm not sure about Sprint. So far, while I'm at home, the majority of my calls are using my home wifi. I haven't had the chance to test a continuous call as I'm driving home to see if it switches to wifi, as Google indicates it will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are on the same boat...I work on the city and signal is strong there...
Verizon and att serve my home..but I want to get away from them...
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app

Yes, Project Fi uses WiFi for calls and texts when you are on WiFi.

Honestly tmobile wifi calling isn't even that great also. I am only able to get edge in my house with them and wifi calling enabled. I tried calling my phone 15 times and 2-3 times it didn't go through (it actually RINGS but my phone doesn't ring or indicate someone called, and the phone I'm using it rings and goes to voicemail) Wifi calling is at it's infancy I feel like.
I had a tmobile lte booster installed in my room for a year and it BARELY made a difference, still got 0.3-0.5 mbps speeds on their "lte"
Fast forward to last month they finally came out with a lte booster that ACTUALLY works, the previous one came was trash.
If I were you, I'd get tmobile and get the NEW lte booster, because the old one gave me 0.5 to 1mbps at it's best and the new one gives me around 7-10mbps on speedtest. Sprint has horrible signal, I would think their "Fair" signal means horrible reception.
Or just go AT&T and verizon, you get what you pay for..... they are much MUCH reliable than tmobile and sprint.

btort1 said:
Honestly tmobile wifi calling isn't even that great
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Note that T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling has nothing in common with Project Fi Wi-Fi calling, which works perfectly.

I seem to only have had one wifi call at my house with Project Fi that I've actually noticed / remembered. I have no idea why all of them don't come in / go out that way. I have a good cell signal too. But, my wifi is strong on 5 Ghz and my bandwidth is about 88 mbps down / 12 up. I only noticed that one time I got an incoming call that said something to the effect of "using wifi network name." I've confirmed the settings in the phone app are set to use wifi calling too.

WiFi calling works perfect at the house. Have very limited cell signal with every provider, so I put on Airplane mode + WiFi and zero issues?

Solutions Etcetera said:
Note that T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling has nothing in common with Project Fi Wi-Fi calling, which works perfectly.
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Click to collapse
Yeah I was just mentioning how bad tmobile is in some areas. But if you have their new lte booster, it works great. The older version barely made a difference. Came from 0.5mbps to 7-10mbps consistently
I mentioned it also cause they told me to try their wifi calling last year and it was jist decent, I still missed calls without knowing people actually called