Wifi Preferred Option

[Richard_1858672]

Hi! I have a new Fold 4 and noticed a behaviour around wifi calling. I have enabled wifi calling in the menu - when the mobile signal drops to no bars the wifi calling icon appears. When the signal moves to 1 or 2 bars then it turns off. This is an issue since my mobile signal is borderline so want wifi calling by default. On my old Note 9 you could set the calling preference but this option is not available on the new phone (Android 13).

I've done some googling and getting mixed messages around this whether it is an android setting and/or a setting that is available for only certain network providers.

Does anyone on Smarty with earlier android version have the wifi preferred option?

Thanks in advance,

Richard

PS There is the "flight mode" option as a work around which works and I've set up a routine to turn this on and off depending if I'm home or not so this will hopefully work as a fallback!

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Chalkychap]

What was the Android version on your old Note 9 @Richard_1858672?

Were you using your old Note 9 with a SMARTY SIM card @Richard_1858672?

If you old Note 9 was an earlier version of Android and you were able to set Wi-Fi Calling preferred with your SMARTY SIM card in this handset, it suggests the issue is Android related.

I'd stick with your work-around @Richard_1858672. I've got bad/poor mobile reception at home, and use the Wi-Fi Calling option with my handset in "flight mode".

[Richard_1858672]

Thanks - unfortunately I traded in Note 9 so couldn't test it - doh!

I asked a similar question on the Samsung community and someone with the identical model on EE sent a screenshot showing this option was available so this shows is provider related.

The phone is not on the SMARTY approved list - my theory is it works by default with basic settings but needs them to tweak the APN. Support couldn't say when/if the phone will be added.

My next experiment is I've ordered a VOXI SIM (Vodafone) to see what that does.....

[WelshPaul]

EE are the only provider to allow you to modify the setting on the device, all others prevent you from changing it (some hide it). I guess they don’t want their servers getting hit with to much traffic due to people choosing to use Wifi calling over 2G, 3G or VoLTE.

[BlueSmarties]

Yes. I have a dual SIM Samsung A70 and a smarty and EE sim in it. wifi preferred is an option for EE and not for Smarty. If I swap the sims around the capability follows the sim.
It's clearly a network issue and due to the often terrible indoor signal I constantly miss calls on the smarty sim due to it flicking between wifi and network constantly.
The EE sim just works flawlessly.

Getting someone at smarty to acknowledge this and heavens the thought get it fixed is a near pointless task as it will never happen.
I suppose best to use a real network for things that matter.

[Chalkychap]

I'd guess SMARTY would need to invest time and money into getting device profiles/settings updated to allow/support the use of a Wi-Fi Calling preferred option on their network.

Maybe this is a reason why EE plans are generally more expensive than SMARTY's.

[BlueSmarties]

Not much money since RWG which are far smaller than smarty but also on the 3 network do it just fine.
And they are cheaper.
It's lack of interest / concern about user experience.

[MSF]

@BlueSmarties Not sure how they are cheaper with unlimited at £45 per month.

[BlueSmarties]

Well, if you're only going to look at one plan, perhaps look at the opposite end too to avoid being biased?

But here we are in a thread talking about wifi calling and you bring up unlimited data.
Seems  bit silly really....

[MSF]

@BlueSmarties  Silly? You brought up the issue of price. At the other end of their plans, they seem to have recently reduced the 5Gb for £6 down to £5 - maybe not a permanent issue.

The wifi calling issue seems to be a particular problem where people have a low level signal rather than totally absent. For many customers it's not an issue, so important to keep it in proportion.

[BlueSmarties]

Yes I did. Thanks for acknowledging that they are cheaper.
To mention an unlimited data sim as your reflection on price in a thread about people using wifi calling because of a lack of signal is silly as they are more likely to use wifi for data.

Wifi calling is typically used by people that have a low to no signal. 
That's it's purpose
Unfortunately it seems with smarty sims because they wont allow the phone setting of "wifi preferred" to be used, it's more prevalent on the smarty network and customer are proportionally more likely to have problems than on networks where this is implemented.
For many customers this is an issue, so it's important to discuss it in case someone cares enough to fix it for them.

But you seem to be more interested in trolling rather than having a discussion on how we fix the problem, so peace out.

[MSF]

@BlueSmarties Trolling? You have to be joking!

You seem to think that the problem will be fixed. Only if Smarty deems it to be a problem - and they will likely only deem it to be a problem if they lose a lot of business.

You need to consider what it might cots them to change any relevant system versus the potential loss of profit.

Conversation over.

[amethyst_rose]

Do you happen to know if the wi-fi preferred setting would be available on the other companies using EE signal or only EE directly (not sure I can justify their prices just for this feature!)

Trying to set up my new phone with poor indoor coverage and thought I'd finally be sorted...but possibly not. Thanks!

[JamesPa_2016446]

Just got my smarty sim and currently have my old EE sim and smarty sim in dual-sim s22 plus while the number transfers. The EE sim has WIFI-calling preferred option but the smarty sim is just on or off. It is a bit disappointing because it was a big improvement when I went from s9 with wifi-calling on/off to the 2ss plus with on/off/preferred. To be fair, i haven't had chance to test the smarty signal at home but it's a big disappointment to lose that option. 

As above, on my previous phone, the phone would often decide to use cellular when wifi-calling was needed is the signal was borderline

[WelshPaul]

The Three network and any MVNO that uses the Three network will not allow WIFI-calling as the preferred option, they will always default to the cellular network if available. I guess Three have little faith in their back end systems being able to cope with a lot of traffic which is what they will see if they allowed this option.

[BlueSmarties]

RWG do.
So...... still waiting for smarty to catch up.

[Rebekah_150]

Hey Richard_1858672,

SMARTY does provide wi-fi calling here is a list of devices that are compatible, https://help.smarty.co.uk/en/articles/4237414-which-devices-are-compatible-with-wifi-calling

If you do need account specific advice our customer care team can help, https://smarty.co.uk/contact available daily from 8am – 8pm.