6P not defaulting to wifi calling on Project FI? - Nexus 6P Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok. I'm using FI on my 6p. For whatever reason (and maybe this is just me misunderstanding), the phone chooses wifi calling very randomly. I'm on wifi 90% of the time but I'd say the phone only selects wifi calling maybe 1 out of 5 calls . If the phone disconnects and someone calls me back, it will then choose wifi calling (and even then its random).
I was under the impressions, using FI, that it would always pick the best connection.....I was expecting wifi calling every time. Am I missing something?

Project Fi defaults to cellular for calls unless there is no usable cellular available. There is no way to change this except for going into airplane mode and turning on WiFi. There is some indication in the FAQ's on Google's help site that they may change the threshold in the future, but for now, they consider WiFi calling to be experimental and thus only use it as a backup.

Well thats lame.

Related

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.

Sprint WiFi Calling doesn't work after Nougat Upgrade

My wife and I live up in the foothills of Colorado where there are no Sprint cell towers. There is one cell tower which our Sprint S7 edges can barely pick up that comes and goes and indicates that we are roaming. For a few seconds our phones might see it but then it will go away for minutes, then it will come back only to go away again ... etc. In any event, it was necessary to use Wifi calling when we are at my home. Prior to the Nougat upgrade everything was fine. As soon as we walked into the house our S7 edges would connect, Wifi calling would activate and would be functional. After the Nougat update we have discovered that Wifi calling no longer works unless we can also see that one roaming cell tower. Then Wifi calling turns on, stays on and we can make/receive calls. I emphasize that this behavior occurs with both our phones.
This problem makes all the Sprint stores basically useless. Since they are located where there are towers, Wifi calling works as expected. As a result Sprint has been absolutely no help. I am wondering if anybody else has had problems with Sprint Wifi calling when unable to see a cell tower? If so could you work around the problem? I am open to suggestions. I consider this a bug in the Spring S7 edge firmware.
BTW, I know that when I can make a call, Wifi calling is used because the pop-up "Congratulations you just made a Wifi call" appears. I purposedly have not turned that off to be sure I am not using that one roaming tower. What is interesting is that I only need to be able to see the "R" by the triangle showing cell tower strength (don't need any bars) and then the Wifi calling icon will turn on. At that point I can make a phone call and even if I lose the connection to that one cell tower (i.e. the "R" disappears) the Wifi call will remain active. I can go anywhere in my house and not drop the call. But once I hang up, the Wifi calling icon will gray out with a slash through it, the phone will indicate that there is no network and the phone can only make emergency calls.
If I cannot get a fix to this problem then I might just have to go back to the last Marshmallow firmware and block the update if possible.
just for the hell of it to check, I turned on airplane mode and left it for 5 mins, leaving it on turned wifi on, and wifi calling connected within a few seconds of wifi connecting. I am on the nougat update. I have absolutely no cell signal as that is turned off. I am able to make calls without a problem.
Reboot your phone into recovery and clear cache and try again.
also, you may want to check and make sure "smart switch" is turned off. it's under the connections > wifi > advanced > smart network switch. I haven't tested it, but in theory it might demand you be connected to a cellular network to work and be causing your problem.
nosympathy said:
just for the hell of it to check, I turned on airplane mode and left it for 5 mins, leaving it on turned wifi on, and wifi calling connected within a few seconds of wifi connecting. I am on the nougat update. I have absolutely no cell signal as that is turned off. I am able to make calls without a problem.
Reboot your phone into recovery and clear cache and try again.
also, you may want to check and make sure "smart switch" is turned off. it's under the connections > wifi > advanced > smart network switch. I haven't tested it, but in theory it might demand you be connected to a cellular network to work and be causing your problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions. I tried several things. First I verified that I already had "smart switch" turned off. So I went ahead and turned it back on... no love with that feature either turned on or off. Second, I rebooted as you suggested into recovery and cleared the cache. That also did not fix the problem. Third I tried the same experiment as you and turned on airplane mode. I waited a bit (maybe not the same 5 minutes) and then turned on the Wifi and Wifi calling. Again no love. I even tried to make a call and the phone told me I had to turn off airplane mode. For whatever reason Wifi calling will only activate when the phone can see that one tower and starts roaming. At least I can use your experiment to demonstrate the problem at a Sprint store. I might just try using Odin to flash nougat and start clean and see if I cannot get this to work that way. I really don't want to go back to using the Airave although that was pretty reliable for me.
Paul Ganci said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I tried several things. First I verified that I already had "smart switch" turned off. So I went ahead and turned it back on... no love with that feature either turned on or off. Second, I rebooted as you suggested into recovery and cleared the cache. That also did not fix the problem. Third I tried the same experiment as you and turned on airplane mode. I waited a bit (maybe not the same 5 minutes) and then turned on the Wifi and Wifi calling. Again no love. I even tried to make a call and the phone told me I had to turn off airplane mode. For whatever reason Wifi calling will only activate when the phone can see that one tower and starts roaming. At least I can use your experiment to demonstrate the problem at a Sprint store. I might just try using Odin to flash nougat and start clean and see if I cannot get this to work that way. I really don't want to go back to using the Airave although that was pretty reliable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So question is, if you go somewhere with signal and wifi you can connect too, turn on airplane mode, leave it on and turn wifi on, does wifi calling work. If not then for sure a reset is in order.
If it does work, then that just tells me the phone isn't really turning everything off with airplane mode on (which is lame) and sprint just goofed up the nougat update and you are the extremely small % that falls victim.
I haven't been able to get WiFi calling to work on my Edge since new. UNTIL I upgraded to Nougat. Now it seems to be working fine. Go figure.
nosympathy said:
So question is, if you go somewhere with signal and wifi you can connect too, turn on airplane mode, leave it on and turn wifi on, does wifi calling work. If not then for sure a reset is in order.
If it does work, then that just tells me the phone isn't really turning everything off with airplane mode on (which is lame) and sprint just goofed up the nougat update and you are the extremely small % that falls victim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay some interesting data. I did exactly this experiment this morning. I drove into my office, connected up to the office WiFi and placed my phone into airplane mode. I then turned on WiFi and WiFi calling. Voila I could make a WiFi call!
However I did not stop there. One of the keys to all this is that the one tower happens to cause "roaming" if my phone was lucky enough to connect to it. So for grins I changed the network mode from automatic to LTE/CDMA (Sprint & Verizon are CDMA). When I was back at the house guess what... WiFi calling now works. Interestingly the phone is in "searching for service" mode which implies that the one cell tower seen from my house is either AT&T or T-Mobile which use GSM. By turning off automatic mode everything worked.
It is kind of a bummer but what seems to fix the issue is to choose Connections->Mobile networks->Network mode->LTE/CDMA. Each time a switch is made from Connections->Mobile networks->Network mode->Automatic back to Connections->Mobile networks->Network mode->LTE/CDMA, etc. the phone has to be rebooted. Unfortunately while traveling in a car Automatic mode is desired and at the house LTE/CDMA is best. Switching back and forth will be a PITA because of the reboot but at least I don't have to go back to the Airave.
I tried to explain this to the Sprint rep. on the phone this evening but he did not understand. Over the weekend I might try a clean install via Odin and see if that improves things. I hate doing that because it takes a fair amount of time to put the phone apps back together. I also have my doubts it will fix anything. IMO something broke with the Nougat upgrade and nothing I do will fix it. And as you point out, I am in that very tiny percentage of people who might actually experience an issue.
Paul Ganci said:
Okay some interesting data. I did exactly this experiment this morning. I drove into my office, connected up to the office WiFi and placed my phone into airplane mode. I then turned on WiFi and WiFi calling. Voila I could make a WiFi call!
However I did not stop there. One of the keys to all this is that the one tower happens to cause "roaming" if my phone was lucky enough to connect to it. So for grins I changed the network mode from automatic to LTE/CDMA (Sprint & Verizon are CDMA). When I was back at the house guess what... WiFi calling now works. Interestingly the phone is in "searching for service" mode which implies that the one cell tower seen from my house is either AT&T or T-Mobile which use GSM. By turning off automatic mode everything worked.
It is kind of a bummer but what seems to fix the issue is to choose Connections->Mobile networks->Network mode->LTE/CDMA. Each time a switch is made from Connections->Mobile networks->Network mode->Automatic back to Connections->Mobile networks->Network mode->LTE/CDMA, etc. the phone has to be rebooted. Unfortunately while traveling in a car Automatic mode is desired and at the house LTE/CDMA is best. Switching back and forth will be a PITA because of the reboot but at least I don't have to go back to the Airave.
I tried to explain this to the Sprint rep. on the phone this evening but he did not understand. Over the weekend I might try a clean install via Odin and see if that improves things. I hate doing that because it takes a fair amount of time to put the phone apps back together. I also have my doubts it will fix anything. IMO something broke with the Nougat upgrade and nothing I do will fix it. And as you point out, I am in that very tiny percentage of people who might actually experience an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity have you tried turning your roaming off? Or adjust the settings to not connect?
Sent from Uranus, the only planet with a ring on the inside
izzibew26 said:
Just out of curiosity have you tried turning your roaming off? Or adjust the settings to not connect?
Sent from Uranus, the only planet with a ring on the inside
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the idea.
So while my wife and I were having lunch in town this afternoon, I took our phones and toggled LTE/CDMA and Automatic modes. When we arrived at the house with the phones in Automatic mode WiFi calling worked. I think as long as the phones do not roam and connect to that GSM cell tower, WiFi calling seems to work. So I put both our phones into Home only mode (Settings->Connections->Mobile networks->Data roaming->Roaming network->Home only). So far so good. Both our phones have had WiFi calling activated now for several hours so I think the strategy works. Turning roaming on and off is not as painful as changing the network mode. Still the Nougat behavior is very different, I dare say, broken from Marshmallow behavior.
Paul Ganci said:
Thanks for the idea.
So while my wife and I were having lunch in town this afternoon, I took our phones and toggled LTE/CDMA and Automatic modes. When we arrived at the house with the phones in Automatic mode WiFi calling worked. I think as long as the phones do not roam and connect to that GSM cell tower, WiFi calling seems to work. So I put both our phones into Home only mode (Settings->Connections->Mobile networks->Data roaming->Roaming network->Home only). So far so good. Both our phones have had WiFi calling activated now for several hours so I think the strategy works. Turning roaming on and off is not as painful as changing the network mode. Still the Nougat behavior is very different, I dare say, broken from Marshmallow behavior.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's weird and I would bet money something they accidentally broke and such odd and perfect conditions have to be met to make it present itself, they probably had no idea. The sad thing is, this bug probably affects so few people, and most will probably not be tech people and will just get frustrated and switch carriers, and so the bug probably won't ever get fixed, except by accident possibly.
On a side note have you tried changing your location settings to GPS only. If you have it set for a method that looks for towers that might be the issue right there. GPS-LOCATING METHOD-DEVICE ONLY.
Sent from Uranus, the only planet with a ring on the inside
Greyed out apn settings
Need help I rooted my s7 edge sm-g935p sprint it is updated to the latest update and I have my msl code but can not access my apn settings they are greyed out even if I dial data and try to access it that way please help
..
izzibew26 said:
Wrong thread. Right section, wrong thread. There are 2 ways. I'm assuming you're attempting hotspot bypass
Sent from Uranus, the only planet with a ring on the inside
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that can you hook me up with the thread
YES I am trying to bypass have wifi sharing app but tends to make the rooted phone lag
...
I just tried the experiment. That did not work and in fact broke WiFi calling. So far the only solution is to toggle the LTE/CDMA and Automatic network modes where there is a Sprint tower preferably and then turn off roaming as I drive up to the house. Then WiFi calling works without issue. Nice thought though.
Sent from my SM-G935P using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Paul Ganci said:
I just tried the experiment. That did not work and in fact broke WiFi calling. So far the only solution is to toggle the LTE/CDMA and Automatic network modes where there is a Sprint tower preferably and then turn off roaming as I drive up to the house. Then WiFi calling works without issue. Nice thought though.
Sent from my SM-G935P using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so things get even worse. Today I drove up to the house with roaming turned off and network mode automatic. After parking the car and walking to the end of the driveway to retrieve my garabage can, not only did WiFi calling fail to activate but I could not turn roaming back on. The Settings->Connections->Mobile networks->Data roaming->Roaming network menu is greyed out. IMO, Sprint has hosed up their edition of Nougat. So I will be left with a brick as a phone while I am up here at 8400' at my house. I am quite pissed.
FWIW, what I think happened is I walked to the end of my driveway and lost my WiFi connection. That caused WiFi calling to shut off and now it will not turn back on. At least if I could get roaming turned back on I could try and connect up to that one lonely GSM tower to possibly fix this issue. But I cannot even do that because the Roaming network menu is greyed out. I am going to have to drive into town just to fix this problem. Ugh!
Paul Ganci said:
Okay so things get even worse. Today I drove up to the house with roaming turned off and network mode automatic. After parking the car and walking to the end of the driveway to retrieve my garabage can, not only did WiFi calling fail to activate but I could not turn roaming back on. The Settings->Connections->Mobile networks->Data roaming->Roaming network menu is greyed out. IMO, Sprint has hosed up their edition of Nougat. So I will be left with a brick as a phone while I am up here at 8400' at my house. I am quite pissed.
FWIW, what I think happened is I walked to the end of my driveway and lost my WiFi connection. That caused WiFi calling to shut off and now it will not turn back on. At least if I could get roaming turned back on I could try and connect up to that one lonely GSM tower to possibly fix this issue. But I cannot even do that because the Roaming network menu is greyed out. I am going to have to drive into town just to fix this problem. Ugh!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try ##72786# in your dialer
Paul Ganci said:
Okay so things get even worse. Today I drove up to the house with roaming turned off and network mode automatic. After parking the car and walking to the end of the driveway to retrieve my garabage can, not only did WiFi calling fail to activate but I could not turn roaming back on. The Settings->Connections->Mobile networks->Data roaming->Roaming network menu is greyed out. IMO, Sprint has hosed up their edition of Nougat. So I will be left with a brick as a phone while I am up here at 8400' at my house. I am quite pissed.
FWIW, what I think happened is I walked to the end of my driveway and lost my WiFi connection. That caused WiFi calling to shut off and now it will not turn back on. At least if I could get roaming turned back on I could try and connect up to that one lonely GSM tower to possibly fix this issue. But I cannot even do that because the Roaming network menu is greyed out. I am going to have to drive into town just to fix this problem. Ugh!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Found the fix... Updated the PRL & Profile. I guess the phone lost its mind and could not find it once the WiFi was dropped.
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

Wi-Fi calling mode: should I prefer Wi-Fi or cellular calling?

What even is the point of this setting? Shouldn't the device determine which will give better call quality, and use THAT, silently?
Which should I check? It's confusing.
Assuming no international / roaming situations here.
I always set it to cellular preferred because WiFi call quality tends to fluctuate more than cellular. I have always found WiFi calling to be too unstable for day to day use.
The setting is probably there partly because not all carriers support WiFi Calling and the ones that do don't necessarily support it on all phones. You should enable the setting and make a call at home where you presumably have a strong WiFi connection. If the call is made via WiFi it will say that on the dialer screen. If the call quality is good then I would use the WiFi preferred function. The phone will only use WiFi to make calls when the WiFi signal is very strong or where you have WiFi but poor to no cell signal. I have WiFi Preferred enabled and have never had a poor quality phone call as a result of it.

Rakuten Mobile (AU) in Japan

Rakuten Mobile (partner: AU mobile) in Japan is an MVNO that has a new UN-LIMIT plan.
There are many phones incompatible with their network (and partner network) and I'd like to understand why.
For example the Oneplus 5 supports all their+partner frequencies but it still can't grab the network (2G/3G and 4G).
There is a trick using a hidden setting in Android which is "LTE only". In that case, we can connect to the Internet.
1. We can't receive calls and can't call if the 4G isn't available because it happens via their "Rakuten Link" app (kinda VOIP).
2. The quality is awful, I receive a new complain of "echo" in the voice at each call.
Could you help me to understand what's the technological reason behind that?
If it isn't the frequencies, what can it be? I've searched everywhere, they never say the reason behind that incompatibility.
Thanks!
Dunno if you're still watching this thread but here's been my experience with Rakuten Mobile:
I have a rooted OP5T. Didn't work out of the box even after putting in the APN settings.
Did some digging around on Japanese blogs and enabling VoLTE does get me connected to the network. You can make calls over the network or use their Link app to use wifi/data instead. Both worked fine in the limited testing I've done. Data was also fine and pretty quick. This worked well for at least a few months.
However, some months later, the fixes and patches I have applied to get VoLTE enabled on my phone doesn't seem to stick or something is resetting it. If I stay home, my connection will stay on indefinitely, however if I go outside, after a few minutes my signal will drop and stay off until I reflash the fixes, or now it seems to reconnect if I reboot the phone. I am starting to think switching cell towers might be doing something? I have more testing to do.

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