T-mobile wifi calling...how well does it work?

[vi edit]

I work in essentially a cellular black hole. Near basement level of a industrial strength brick and steel building with a ton of magnetic shielding around it in places. I'm on Verizon and my Motorola devices can pick up a signal if I have my phone sitting in one magical spot on my desk and the sun is aligned at the right moment and no one is using the microwave. At that magical moment I can get a text message through.

I have to respond to text pages for work and also communicating things with my wife as far as kid pickups and what not and the lack of signal is killing me at times.

I'm considering T-Mobile since they'll buy out my Verizon ETF and the fact that they do Wifi calling. Also considering them since music doesn't count against streaming which is nice for car trips (assuming I get a signal).

But the question I have is...how well has the wifi worked out for those that use it? If I'm on a borderline signal strength area can I force it to wifi calling? Also will text messages come in/go out over wifi automatically?

How does the phone know to use wifi vs the cellular radio?

Crappiest part is that T-Mobile doesn't have any Motorola phones that I've gotten used to using the last year. Love active notifications. Doesn't look like there are any of those devices that will work on their network that way.

 

[isekii]

I used it in Costa Rica recently. It's all dependent on your wifi connection, but if that's good~ it's solid.

 

[vi edit]

Is there a way to "force" it to wifi only? I have great wifi coverage all over the buildings I support. But my cellular signal is crap almost everywhere.

 

[Strk]

The Moto X Pure Edition works on tmobile. I don't know if it supports wifi calling though.

 

[vi edit]

Even my verizon branded moto's will "work". They have most of the T-Mobile bands except the upcoming 700mhz I think. But they don't do wifi calling as far as I know which is part of the reason I'd switch. My phone is mostly useless in my office and around the campus that I work.

 

[blackdogdeek]

IIRC, there are settings where you prioritize the network to use for calling and for texting separately with options to use a specific network only. Eg - Calling: Wifi when available; Texting: Cellular when available.

How do I set up Wi-Fi Calling?
First connect to a Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi Calling is enabled out of the box on most phones. To ensure Wi-Fi Calling is enabled, go to Settings. Look for “More…” or something similar. Tap “More…” and scroll to see Wi-Fi Calling. Toggle to the “On” position. You can also choose whether to make Wi-Fi Calling your preferred mode of calling (default), or use cellular for voice calls whenever strong cellular service is available.

I tested it with my HTC One S and my wife couldn't tell any difference from the land line but on my end the sound was more tinny and I felt like there was a slight lag. It was still pretty impressive.

One thing to note is that currently it ONLY works on phones that are T-Mobile branded. This is annoying if you want to bring your own device to their network. Supposedly, they are working on this.

 

[frostedflakes]

WiFi calling is coming on Verizon I think, last I heard mid-2015? You can already handover VoLTE video (maybe voice as well?) calls from 4G over to WiFi, just can't originate calls on WiFi yet unfortunately.

If you were wanting the feature now and had other reasons you'd like to switch, though, T-Mo would probably be your best bet. I've heard pretty good things about their WiFi calling, as mentioned as long as you have a good WiFi signal it should work pretty well.

I don't know if text messages would come through on WiFi as well, though. Generally I think those are piggybacked on the signalling messages for the cellular network? So not sure if they would.

 

[isekii]

Is there a way to "force" it to wifi only? I have great wifi coverage all over the buildings I support. But my cellular signal is crap almost everywhere.

Yes you can force it wifi only by turning off cellular data.

 

[Kneedragger]

Is there a way to "force" it to wifi only? I have great wifi coverage all over the buildings I support. But my cellular signal is crap almost everywhere.

When I go out of town where I don't have service I have wifi and set my LG G3 calls to "never use cellular" I have three settings

Wifi calling preferred
Cell network preferred
Never use cellular network

Also when I use 100% wifi I receive text.

 

[cpacini]

The default option when you enable Wi-Fi calling is to ALWAYS use Wi-Fi if available

 

[gregulator]

I just switched from Verizon to tmobile because it is so much cheaper for a family plan. I don't live in a major metro area so I was concerned about coverage but it has actually been better than expected. Even it totally remote areas it at least jumps on other networks (ATT or US Cellular) to give you voice and text.

I bought a Nokia 635 for cheap, and just got a 925 for a better camera so I don't know how Android/iOS phones work, but as stated above you can set your wifi preference to those three settings.

It seems to work really well, although I have dropped some calls at the house while on wifi. Not sure why either. I think if you have a newer router it may be better too, I have an old trusty WRT54, and it may be time to upgrade. Setting QoS settings may help too. Voice quality is WAY better than Verizon.

Text and MMS come over wifi too so that is nice.

You definitely need to buy a phone that tmobile supports though, otherwise you are out of luck.

 

[Dulanic]

I love their WiFi calling, I never know when I am using it or not without looking at the screen. It seamlessly moves between WiFi and VoLTE if the phone supports VoLTE and your area has it.

I used to not worry about Wifi calling not being available on CM, but I've become so used to it and the reliability it offers me, I've left CM now.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

At home it worked great for me but my work wifi was always iffy.

 

[vi edit]

Yeah. Probably worth it to do the 1 week test drive and see if work WiFi supports it well.

 

[paperwastage]

some workplaces block the ports/IP addresses needed for the wifi calling.. definitely test it out first (the t-mobile free test drive is a iPhone 5s, which should have wifi calling)

nexus 6 is technically made by motorola... it doesn't have VoLTe/wiFi calling yet, t-mobile promises an update later... only buy the n6 when the feature comes out, dont buy it before

 

[gmaster456]

I would try it before you commit. T-mobiles building penetration is often worse and like the above user mentions sometimes the ports/ips are blocked on some networks.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I would try it before you commit. T-mobiles building penetration is often worse and like the above user mentions sometimes the ports/ips are blocked on some networks.

Hate to say it, but this is true. I get a crappy signal more often than no, at least with my 4. My 6 gets a far better signal, but data (depending on where in the building) - I'll get 2G, 4G, or LTE, just depends.

WiFi Calling works great for me...no issues with it. I've been with T-Mo for over 10 years now...happy that they're finally in the 21st century.

 

[midwestfisherman]

I've been on T-Mobile for a couple of years now. I get crappy reception at work too. The wifi calling works great for me. No issues and it just works when needed!

 

[KeithP]

I would try it before you commit. T-mobiles building penetration is often worse and like the above user mentions sometimes the ports/ips are blocked on some networks.

I did the T-mobile test drive thing where they send you a iPhone (in my case a 5S) that you can use for week (free). It was a painless process although to return the phone you have to go into a T-mobile location. They even let you keep the charger and the USB cable.

I would definitely recommend this if you want to try T-Mobile.

And yes, Verizon is suppose to get wifi calling sometime this year but has not committed to a date as far as I know.

-KeithP