Pixel 4 and Wi-Fi Calling - Google Pixel 4 Questions & Answers

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

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.
-------------------------------------
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.

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

UK VoLTE and VoWiFi EE

Hello,
Got mt XL today from EE and I can happily tell you that WiFi calling and VoLTE work straight out of the box. WiFi calling needed to be enabled in the phone settings but VoLTE was on by default. Top job :good:
For those in the US I suppose this means the phone can do it, you just need your network to have it enabled.
https://s22.postimg.org/4uhp54tv5/Screenshot_20161020_175634.png
https://s22.postimg.org/58j14qdyp/Screenshot_20161020_175642.png
https://s22.postimg.org/71lxt1z5d/Screenshot_20161020_175617.png
I'm on EE yet it's blurred out the option to use it ?
recklesslife85 said:
I'm on EE yet it's blurred out the option to use it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't matter, it's enabled by default and you can't disable it.
Ignore the slider, if you make a call you'll see it sticks to 4G and doesn't drop down to 3G
Yep.... Worked straight out of the box for me too,
God this phone is slick
Happy days XD
Great to see an Android phone that is running the latest software and supports VoLTE and WiFi Calling. A true iPhone competitor.
Just need Three, Vodafone and O2 to add support now too
How are people finding the phone on EE after a few days use? Has anyone noticed if the reception is any better / worse than their previous handsets? I read somewhere the top half is glass so the signal isn't hampered by the aluminium.
Also, has anyone ran any speedtests?
I've been running a few days, in the house it defaults to wifi due to the reception being low since I live in a dip on the coast near people who moaned about having masts near them, I still get about a 30-40meg data connection it just prefers the wifi in the house, at work on the other hand I'm seeing speeds around 60meg and reception is great, far better than it was on O2 with my S6/Note 7, but the reception does seem fine and also seems to still work inside big shops more than other devices.
as for O2 getting on wifi calling, it wont happen, they want to force people to use tugo, also it's the same firm that once told me 3G was a failure and would never catch on.
Thanks for the update @Belimawr, if you have wifi calling on is there an icon for it? And does it only kick in if you have poor signal? On my S7 if i have wifi calling on, it calls / texts over that 100% of the time even if I'm in a good signal area.
@FSOP seems to depend on the wifi, it seems to prefer the wifi if the data speed is better than the 4G, if the wifi outperforms the 4G it defaults to the wifi. so my wifi in the house (80meg connection) is always better than the 4G so it will always go to that first, but the openzone we have at work online gives about 5meg so it stays on 4G for calling, so I'm guessing someway it gauges performance to decide how to connect.
as for knowing how you are calling, it seems to be the network thing that tells you who you are connected to, normally it will just show "EE" but when it goes over to wifi calling it changes over to "EE Wi-Fi Calling" it is the same in the quick access menu on the notifications draw.
Belimawr said:
@FSOP seems to depend on the wifi, it seems to prefer the wifi if the data speed is better than the 4G, if the wifi outperforms the 4G it defaults to the wifi. so my wifi in the house (80meg connection) is always better than the 4G so it will always go to that first, but the openzone we have at work online gives about 5meg so it stays on 4G for calling, so I'm guessing someway it gauges performance to decide how to connect.
as for knowing how you are calling, it seems to be the network thing that tells you who you are connected to, normally it will just show "EE" but when it goes over to wifi calling it changes over to "EE Wi-Fi Calling" it is the same in the quick access menu on the notifications draw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, thanks for that
On my S7 there's an icon, so it sounds like it's a bit more like the iPhone where it changes the operator from EE to EE WiFi-Call
thank you OP. can you also take screenshots of the APN settings that are used? Maybe something could be carried over to Nexus line.
Every time I access the settings under phone (dialing *#*#4636#*#*)info and enable it, it gets disabled automatically. Does anyone have any idea how to fix that?
oneshotaz said:
Every time I access the settings under phone (dialing *#*#4636#*#*)info and enable it, it gets disabled automatically. Does anyone have any idea how to fix that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's disabled by default on the Pixel with EE anyway, changing toggles won't disable it
FSOP said:
It's disabled by default on the Pixel with EE anyway, changing toggles won't disable it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a shame! Thanks a lot for letting me know, I spent a lot of time fooling around thinking that something was not being done right
VeixES said:
thank you OP. can you also take screenshots of the APN settings that are used? Maybe something could be carried over to Nexus line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't upload the images APN is as follows
Name - EE Internet
APN - everywhere
Proxy - Not Set
Port - Not Set
Username - eesecure
Password - secure
Server - Not Set
MMSC - Not Set
MMS Proxy - Not Set
MMS Port - Not Set
MCC - 234
MNC - 30
Authentication type - PAP
APN type - default,supl
APN Protocol - IPv4/IPv6
APN Roaming protocol - IPv4
APN enable/disable - True
Bearer - Unspecified
MVNO type - None
MVNO value - Not Set
There is no apn for WiFi calling / volte.
Depending on device it's done via carrier settings (pixel) or ims settings (S7 other branded devices)

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.

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