wifi calling enabled on account but not visible in the settings

[ks1]

Yes, another one of those wifi calling enabled on account but not visible in the settings posts. 

In my case its an XZ1 Compact, listed  here as compatible with vodafone's wifi calling, and here by Sony as available to this phone (latest firmware 47.1.A.12.75).  I've texted 'calling' to 97888 and got the reply saying it'll be enabled and done a live chat today with someone confirming it's enabled on the account. I recived an OTA provisioning message, which created an APN that wasn't like the settings shown here, but I did subsequently add a new APN rebooted and switched to it.  None of these steps has thus far created an option in my Phone > settings > calls menu that says Wifi Calling.

I went round it circles with the live chat people, who kept looking at the old marketing page here (from Sep 2015) which only lists Sony's XY Premium phone and telling me that was probably why. (Bizarrely, they even said "we're not allowed to look at other web pages" [even though the page that says my phone is supported is vodafone's own support page])

Has anybody got any suggestions for what I could do that I haven't already tried?

[blueacid]

I've done some more testing. I've got the following SIM cards handy:

- My own contract vodafone sim, whose number was ported from o2 -> Three -> Vodafone

- My employer-supplied vodafone sim. The number starts 07703, which is in a number block was also issued initially to o2 (https://ukareacodes.org/code/mobile/07703/). This SIM usually lives in an iPhone.

- An EE PAYG SIM borrowed from a friend at work

I found that when I put the EE sim in, my phone restarted to apply the configuration settings. The Modem Config file changed to be an EE one (I forget which precisely, but 'telefonica' had certainly changed to 'ee').

I then put my work SIM in and it went back to telefonica configuration & stayed there when I put my personal SIM in.

I've just ordered a Vodafone PAYG SIM. Let's see what happens when that arrives.

[blueacid]

I tried to reply earlier, but seemingly my reply got lost somewhere..

I did some more testing. I've got the following 3 SIM cards available:

- My Vodafone Contract Sim, whose number originally was on o2, then Vodafone, then Three, then Vodafone again

- My employer supplied contract sim. The number starts 07703, which was originally an o2 block of numbers. This normally lives in an iphone.

- An EE PAYG sim

I put the EE sim in and the phone restarted to apply carrier settings. Going back into the service menu, I noticed that the 'telefonica' in the Modem Config was now 'ee'. I can't remember the full path, but, the phone had definitely chosen the EE configuration!

Putting my work SIM in, the modem config switched back to telefonica. Putting my personal sim in and it stayed put.

I've just ordered a PAYG Vodafone SIM, let's see whether the phone behaves differently with that in.

[ks1]

"With Flashtool, can I just choose to flash a Vodafone firmware on the phone? Or do I need to track it down on some random forum somewhere?"

I'd be careful with this:

I tried by picking the latest Vodafone UK firmware that Xperifirm found (within flashtool) and got stuck in a bootloop (it's not a rooted phone).  Now even sony's emma software can't see the phone 

[blueacid]

Ah, thanks for the heads up. I won't be trying that then!

I've just received the Pay as you Go Vodafone sim in the post. Tried it in my phone and the Modem Config in the hidden menu was still telefonica.

So it appears that however that configuration is set is a bit broken. I've tried three different vodafone SIMs now and all of them load that telefonica profile.

I wonder how the phone is told which configuration to load?

[blueacid]

Well, I got the issue escalated on the 22nd March.

I was told I'd have a reply within "24-48 hours".

Yesterday, I had a slightly, ahem, terse live chat in which I established that, in fact, the specialist team would only reply when they had a reply for me, rather than messaging me to let me know that they had no update. Bit annoying to have been messed around (good job on the customer service, Vodafone, I know you're "striving to improve" or whatever, this is the sort of thing you need to take care of).

Anyway, I was assured that I'll have a reply within 3 days, which brings us to the end of this Friday. Being honest, I suspect it'll be one of these outcomes, in order of descending likelihood:

• I hear nothing back, and nothing changes
• I get a "sorry, we don't support wifi calling on this phone" message, even though the FAQs on their website state the opposite
• They actually fix it

I'll keep you all posted...!

[blueacid]

Heard nothing back. Nothing has changed!

[Tash]

Apologies for the delay in reaching your post @blueacid.

Have the team since been in touch with you? If not, please follow the details I've provided in the private message I've sent and we can chase this up with the team for you.

[spectacle_wu]

I too wanted to enable wifi telephony on my Xperia XZ1 and contacted both Vodafone and Sony Mobile Communications call centres to ascertain why I could not do so. The answer - after asking straight forward questions - was that both parties have not agreed to provide the functionality, to date, between Vodafone's network and Sony's hardware! However, both parties have wifi telephony enabled on other manufacturers hardware and networks. Personally, I like Sony's product range and continue to be a Vodafone contract user - since 1991 - and wonder why they do not have a wifi telephony relationship in place. But I'm not the CEO of Vodafone!     

[Mark]

We do offer WiFi calling to customers using Sony phones @spectacle_wu and you can see a full list of these here. If you'd like us to take another look into this for you, please conact us via the link in the private message we sent on 11 April. 

[ks1]

@Mark, Both his and my phone are listed on the page you linked to, but we have the issue that nobody in teh contact centre has a clue about how to send the OTA provsiioning settings thet make the option to set Wifi calling appear in the phones setting menu.  They just go around in circles and waste hours and hours of customers' time.