I've been told by O2 that to have wifi calling I must pay monthly
instead of pay as I go. This is despite the fact that I had it before
with the same SIM card PAYG in a different phone. What are they up to?
How can they justify this?

Richmond wrote:

> I've been told by O2 that to have wifi calling I must pay monthly
> instead of pay as I go. This is despite the fact that I had it before
> with the same SIM card PAYG in a different phone. What are they up to?
> How can they justify this?

I have wifi-calling on O2 SIM only (prior to that the same phone with
the same SIM was on VMO2 as a MVNO and wifi-calling didn't work).

On this Sat, 06 Jan 2024 17:46:06 +0000, Richmond wrote:

> I've been told by O2 that to have wifi calling I must pay monthly
> instead of pay as I go. This is despite the fact that I had it before
> with the same SIM card PAYG in a different phone. What are they up to?
> How can they justify this?

It's too bad they're charging you for Wi-Fi calling since I think it
reduces the load on their towers, doesn't it?

Charlie <charlie@nospam.com> wrote:
> On this Sat, 06 Jan 2024 17:46:06 +0000, Richmond wrote:
>
> > I've been told by O2 that to have wifi calling I must pay monthly
> > instead of pay as I go. This is despite the fact that I had it before
> > with the same SIM card PAYG in a different phone. What are they up to?
> > How can they justify this?
>
> It's too bad they're charging you for Wi-Fi calling since I think it
> reduces the load on their towers, doesn't it?

They aren't charging for Wi-Fi calling, they just don't offer it on PAYG
tariffs. If you switch to a different tariff then it's available, while
those tariffs happen to have a different payment model. But there you are
not paying for Wi-Fi calling specifically.

It's never worked for me on PAYG, across several different phones, so not
sure how it managed to work before. What phone did it work on?

(Few networks offer wifi calling on PAYG, so they aren't exactly in the
minority here)

Theo

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> writes:

> Charlie <charlie@nospam.com> wrote:
>> On this Sat, 06 Jan 2024 17:46:06 +0000, Richmond wrote:
>>
>> > I've been told by O2 that to have wifi calling I must pay monthly
>> > instead of pay as I go. This is despite the fact that I had it before
>> > with the same SIM card PAYG in a different phone. What are they up to?
>> > How can they justify this?
>>
>> It's too bad they're charging you for Wi-Fi calling since I think it
>> reduces the load on their towers, doesn't it?
>
> They aren't charging for Wi-Fi calling, they just don't offer it on PAYG
> tariffs. If you switch to a different tariff then it's available, while
> those tariffs happen to have a different payment model. But there you are
> not paying for Wi-Fi calling specifically.
>
> It's never worked for me on PAYG, across several different phones, so not
> sure how it managed to work before. What phone did it work on?
>
> (Few networks offer wifi calling on PAYG, so they aren't exactly in the
> minority here)
>

It worked on a Motorola Moto.

It is currently working on Vodafone PAYG (the same phone as the O2 card
does not work on), although I began by buying a
bundle and then opted out, so switched to PAYG.

ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.

Richmond wrote:

> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.

Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:

> Richmond wrote:
>
>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>
> Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).

I've noticed in the bluetooth settings you can pair with another device
for the purpose of phone calls. I am puzzled as to how I might use
this. But it would be useful if I could keep the phone where there is a
good signal and answer it from a more convenient place, maybe from a PC
or another phone. I tried but couldn't get anything to work. Perhaps
something like a bluetooth speaker+microphone and google assistant might
work.

Richmond wrote:

> I've noticed in the bluetooth settings you can pair with another device
> for the purpose of phone calls. I am puzzled as to how I might use
> this.

Hands-free in a car? Possibly where the car uses rSAP to "borrow" the
phone's SIM?

On 10/01/2024 11:49, Richmond wrote:
> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:
>
>> Richmond wrote:
>>
>>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>>
>> Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).
>
> I've noticed in the bluetooth settings you can pair with another device
> for the purpose of phone calls. I am puzzled as to how I might use
> this. But it would be useful if I could keep the phone where there is a
> good signal and answer it from a more convenient place, maybe from a PC
> or another phone. I tried but couldn't get anything to work. Perhaps
> something like a bluetooth speaker+microphone and google assistant might
> work.

My Sennheiser BT headphones when connected to my phone will give an
audible indication of an incoming call, and I can press one of the buttons
to answer, and hear the caller. Nobody seems to hear me speaking though.

On Wed 10/01/2024 12:10, Nick Finnigan wrote:
> On 10/01/2024 11:49, Richmond wrote:
>> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:
>>
>>> Richmond wrote:
>>>
>>>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>>>
>>> Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).
>>
>> I've noticed in the bluetooth settings you can pair with another device
>> for the purpose of phone calls. I am puzzled as to how I might use
>> this. But it would be useful if I could keep the phone where there is a
>> good signal and answer it from a more convenient place, maybe from a PC
>> or another phone. I tried but couldn't get anything to work. Perhaps
>> something like a bluetooth speaker+microphone and google assistant might
>> work.
>
>  My Sennheiser BT headphones when connected to my phone will give an
> audible indication of an incoming call, and I can press one of the
> buttons to answer, and hear the caller. Nobody seems to hear me speaking
> though.

Do you mean no-one near you can hear you speaking or the person at the
other end of the line cannot hear you.

Silly question: do your Sennheiser headphones have a 3-ring or 4-ring
3.5mm jack plug? If the former then your headphones do not have a
microphone facility.
Simples?

On 10/01/2024 12:57, Woody wrote:
> On Wed 10/01/2024 12:10, Nick Finnigan wrote:
>> On 10/01/2024 11:49, Richmond wrote:
>>> Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:
>>>
>>>> Richmond wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>>>>
>>>> Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).
>>>
>>> I've noticed in the bluetooth settings you can pair with another device
>>> for the purpose of phone calls. I am puzzled as to how I might use
>>> this. But it would be useful if I could keep the phone where there is a
>>> good signal and answer it from a more convenient place, maybe from a PC
>>> or another phone. I tried but couldn't get anything to work. Perhaps
>>> something like a bluetooth speaker+microphone and google assistant might
>>> work.
>>
>>   My Sennheiser BT headphones when connected to my phone will give an
>> audible indication of an incoming call, and I can press one of the
>> buttons to answer, and hear the caller. Nobody seems to hear me speaking
>> though.
>
> Do you mean no-one near you can hear you speaking or the person at the
> other end of the line cannot hear you.

None of various people at the other end have been able to hear me.

> Silly question: do your Sennheiser headphones have a 3-ring or 4-ring 3.5mm
> jack plug? If the former then your headphones do not have a microphone
> facility.
> Simples?

Bluetooth, no wired connection. Works fine for 2 way conversations on PC.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:

> Richmond wrote:
>
>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>
> Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).

I've just got wifi calling with an ASDA SIM card.

On Wed, 10 Jan 2024 11:29:11 +0000, Andy Burns
<usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

>Richmond wrote:
>
>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>
>Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).

Didn't for me when my Pixel 6a was on Android 13. When it got
Android 14 Wi-Fi calling became available and works beautifully,
incoming and outgoing.
--
Roger

Roger <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>On Wed, 10 Jan 2024 11:29:11 +0000, Andy Burns
><usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>
>>Richmond wrote:
>>
>>> ASDA claim that Wifi calling works with PAYG, on the Vodafone network.
>>
>>Didn't for me (possibly because Pixel5a isn't an official UK device).
>
>Didn't for me when my Pixel 6a was on Android 13. When it got
>Android 14 Wi-Fi calling became available and works beautifully,
>incoming and outgoing.

WIFI calling (voda contract here) does not work usefully unless there
is NO GSM signal or you turn off GSM.

If there is even the weakest signal, it stops it working. No way
around it.

Postman Pat wrote:

> WIFI calling (voda contract here) does not work usefully unless there
> is NO GSM signal or you turn off GSM.
>
> If there is even the weakest signal, it stops it working. No way
> around it.

Depends ... on my Pixel5a there is an option to prefer wifi calling or
mobile network. However, other people have reported not having that
option, so I've concluded it's down to me opting into the public beta of
the Google phone app ...

<http://andyburns.uk/misc/wifi-calling-pref.png>