[modifier]

I'm saying they are not going to give voLTE to such people with phones TMO doesn't carry because they don't want to field their support calls and angst.

Perhaps but I highly doubt it will be based on a customer service decision and instead a software/firmware decision, irrespective of customer support entirely. I still don't see many end-users caring about voice calls over LTE since voice will drop back to GSM if LTE won't connect. This is why most if not all phones today won't allow only an LTE radio connection and force at least 2G and/or 3G as backup.

If BB ships a device with VoLTE enabled and someone can show that a Tmo branded BB has VoLTE service and a direct-from-BB unit doesn't, then we'll have our answer on Tmo's network support. From a cost standpoint Tmo would be stupid to block it but carriers don't always catch on right away until markets evolve.

[Q10]

[raino]

If BB ships a device with VoLTE enabled and someone can show that a Tmo branded BB has VoLTE service and a direct-from-BB unit doesn't, then we'll have our answer on Tmo's network support.

From BB's end, is there more they can do besides simply making the phone IMS capable? If not, here's an example of a Z10 (so at least a supported phone, not sure about branded) getting voLTE, but not a Z30 STA100-5: http://forums.crackberry.com/t-mobil.../#post10605495

[modifier]

No, nothing more BB can do outside of enabling IMS. VoLTE is still new for Tmo so I would expect unsupported devices to be stuck for now, especially with it being a new service. Where I'd be surprised is if a non-Tmo Z10/Q10 was denied VoLTE access. Knowing that will give more insight into the topic.

[Q10]

[raino]

No, nothing more BB can do outside of enabling IMS. VoLTE is still new for Tmo so I would expect unsupported devices to be stuck for now, especially with it being a new service. Where I'd be surprised is if a non-Tmo Z10/Q10 was denied VoLTE access. Knowing that will give more insight into the topic.

Agreed. I think voLTE availability per device has mirrored WFC availability so far, which makes sense. If voLTE doesn't require low level SIM access as I've gathered from your and gariac's posts, then I too would love for it to come to all capable phones. I'm just not holding my breath though.

[molonlabe2a]

Raino, I know we discussed before, but I live in Chicago so I have T-Mobile USA. You mention there [I]may[I]not be LTE 2, what exactly is that? I guess I can deal with no wi-fi calling because my alternative to getting the Passport will be the iphone 6, which doesn't have wi-fi calling anyways. But I do want to get all of the same quality T-Mobile service that I am currently getting with my Galaxy SIII. I use to be an avid BlackBerry user and I'm looking to go back to them because of security/privacy issues with Android and ios phones. I'm just very concerned that I won't be getting the same data speeds in the same places I currently get with my Galaxy SIII. Some people claim if I go with the Passport I'll only get 2G majority of the time, which I could not live with. You do seem confident that an unlocked Passport should work just as well as a T-Mobile branded blackberry minus the wi-fi calling. Sorry for the long post, but I guess what I really want to know and I feel you're the best person to ask, do you think I'll have the same speeds and service with an unlocked Passport on the T-Mobile USA network as I do with my current Galaxy SIII? Thanks.

[gariac]

My opinion, and consider what you are paying for it, is if the phone has the mode, it will work. I say this mostly because I know people who buy oddball phones in Korea, that is models you can't buy in the states, and they work just fine on AT$T. I haven't seen that for T-mobile, but that is just because these people tend to have AT&T corporate accounts.

Can you imagine the fecal storm if some foreigner tried to use a perfectly good phone in the US and a carrier locked said person out because the phone wasn't in their portfolio?

GSM is very international. CDMA having issues would make sense, but not GSM. Isn't most of the hardware Alcatel these days, US or not?

Edge anywhere is just too slow these days other than for basic text. The interwebs are full of useless graphics these days. Even forums allow stupid avatars. Just sit back some day and look at a phbb based forum. The signal to noise ratio is quite low.


Posted via CB10

[raino]

Raino, I know we discussed before, but I live in Chicago so I have T-Mobile USA. You mention there [I]may[I]not be LTE 2, what exactly is that? I guess I can deal with no wi-fi calling because my alternative to getting the Passport will be the iphone 6, which doesn't have wi-fi calling anyways. But I do want to get all of the same quality T-Mobile service that I am currently getting with my Galaxy SIII. I use to be an avid BlackBerry user and I'm looking to go back to them because of security/privacy issues with Android and ios phones. I'm just very concerned that I won't be getting the same data speeds in the same places I currently get with my Galaxy SIII. Some people claim if I go with the Passport I'll only get 2G majority of the time, which I could not live with. You do seem confident that an unlocked Passport should work just as well as a T-Mobile branded blackberry minus the wi-fi calling. Sorry for the long post, but I guess what I really want to know and I feel you're the best person to ask, do you think I'll have the same speeds and service with an unlocked Passport on the T-Mobile USA network as I do with my current Galaxy SIII? Thanks.

Hi, are you talking about this post? I meant that hypothetically and very conservatively. Band 2, at this point, is being refarmed on a large scale only by TMO, so you could say it's somewhat of an exclusive band of theirs (not as exclusive as band 12, but I digress.) The RGY181LW Passport that went through the FCC--assuming that's released for sale somewhere--does have band 2, so technically speaking, it's better than the GS3 T999L, which only has bands 4 and 17. The Classic we don't know much about, nor do we about future phones.

Band 2 is going to become a big time LTE band for TMO. They have a self-set goal of refarming all 2G spectrum to LTE by end of 2015. I haven't seen anything about current deployments though. Maybe the network hasn't gone active yet.

[klimes]

I travel overseas at times, and the wi-fi calling ability is awesome. I have multiple lines on T-Mobile, so if I got rid of my Bold and replaced it with a non-wi-fi calling Blackberry, the world wouldn't end since I can use one of my other phones - all have wi-fi calling.

It also helps when I am in places with no T-Mobile service but wi-fi access.

So having the ability to have wi-fi calling is nice.

[TomSwift]

It's really important to me as my condo doesn't have a solid TMO cell phone signal, but go figure the AT&T signal works great.

I want my Passport with WiFi calling, I don't care what US carrier brings it.

[lobbyintx]

Wifi calling is the top reason I'm with Tmo. I came with a bb9700 using UMA. I do travel abroad at times and use the wifi calling when I'm in a building that doesn't get cell signal.

Posted via CB10

[gariac]

It's really important to me as my condo doesn't have a solid TMO cell phone signal, but go figure the AT&T signal works great.

I want my Passport with WiFi calling, I don't care what US carrier brings it.

I think you will never get this. T-mobile is the only US carrier with wifi calling and they won't support any BlackBerry other than the z10.

One possibility is to get the cheap $30 plan and go VOIP for all your voice. With headless VOIP apps, you can bypass the phone company.

Next time I move, I'm planning on going VOIP at home and mobile.

Posted via CB10

[raino]

Actually Sprint too has WiFi calling now. Don't think they've brought it to BB10 though.

[gariac]

The more I think about it, if you really need VOIP, you are better off just doing it yourself.

I've found that when I haven't been on the T-mobile network for a while, which of course happens due to their crappy rural coverage, when I get wifi, it takes a while for the phone to authenticate regarding services. That is you can browse right away, but it might take a few minutes for email and VOIP to start working.

I only wifi call in one town, and they now have AT&T but no t-mobile roaming.


Posted via CB10

[lobbyintx]

Actually Sprint too has WiFi calling now. Don't think they've brought it to BB10 though.

Sprint will make some attempts to catch up and pass Tmo on services. If they bring wifi calling to BlackBerry then it might give me a reason to switch to them. I really don't see why the passport or classic wouldn't be capable of wifi calling. There are other carriers that offer the service outside of the USA so a BlackBerry from one of those companies should work on tmo.

Posted via CB10

[scrannel]

Sprint has fully integrated Google Voice, unlike other carriers. So, unless someone can point to a voip service that has all the benefits of wifi-calling (use same number, others do not need app etc.), then wifi-calling is just too good to lose, for me anyway. Let's see what Spring does with wifi-calling. Maybe that + a dual mode phone will be ok.

[gariac]

Sprint has fully integrated Google Voice, unlike other carriers. So, unless someone can point to a voip service that has all the benefits of wifi-calling (use same number, others do not need app etc.), then wifi-calling is just too good to lose, for me anyway. Let's see what Spring does with wifi-calling. Maybe that + a dual mode phone will be ok.

As if you would want Google knowing who you call. ;-)

But I thought Google killed that service. What was the company called that they bought? Grand Central?

Seriously, if you really needed wifi calling, this outage shows you can't depend on it working.

Posted via CB10

[shayes-7]

Not sure if this has been addressed already I've skimmed part of the thread but didn't really find an answer... Is T-Mobile going to keep working on wi-fi calling considering their current relationship or lack there of with BlackBerry? Don't you have to buy a phone through t-mobile in order to get wi-fi calling? If so how will you get it on any of the new BlackBerrys?

BlackBerry Q10

[raino]

Not sure if this has been addressed already I've skimmed part of the thread but didn't really find an answer... Is T-Mobile going to keep working on wi-fi calling considering their current relationship or lack there of with BlackBerry? Don't you have to buy a phone through t-mobile in order to get wi-fi calling? If so how will you get it on any of the new BlackBerrys?

TMO makes WiFi calling available to the phone models it sells. So as long as you're buying the same model of a phone that TMO sells (like the SQN100-5 Q10, or the STL100-3 Z10,) it does not matter where you're buying the phone from. Phones that TMO never sold (like the Z30) won't get WFC.

[brianwiebe]

Okay, but how do I disable the icon and notifications? I've searched and no one gives a good answer. I just switched to T-Mobile yesterday on my Passport SE. It is not activated, and the app doesn't show up either, like it does on my Z10. Really annoying. Help?

[raino]

Okay, but how do I disable the icon and notifications? I've searched and no one gives a good answer. I just switched to T-Mobile yesterday on my Passport SE. It is not activated, and the app doesn't show up either, like it does on my Z10. Really annoying. Help?

The 'app' is pre-loaded only on phones TMO sold (Z10, Q10.) However, you can install it manually using Sachesi. Here it is: http://cdn.fs.sl.blackberry.com/fs/q...-v7+signed.bar

Once you install it, you should be able to set WFC to Cellular Preferred; that should make the icon go away.

[scrannel]

Don't forget the Classic! Branded Classics got WFC from T-mo along with, of course, the on/off app.

[Old_Mil]

It isn't.

In general, the hotspots/hotel Internet services I have used when away from home aren't good enough to keep it going without mulitple drops per call.

Posted via CB10

[scrannel]

It isn't.

In general, the hotspots/hotel Internet services I have used when away from home aren't good enough to keep it going without mulitple drops per call.

Posted via CB10

If you're responding to my post, I only have my wife's experience to go on and she's had good luck. We just got back from Istanbul and her branded Classic worked flawlessly, as did my Z10. Talking WFC. We're both on 2789.

[blackberry artichoke]

I had unbranded CLASSIC from T-Mobile and had wifi calling.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android