WiFi calling on Sony Xperia 10 II - OTA provisioning

[nottherealstew]

Short story: I have a SIM-only pay monthly contract which has WiFi calling enabled. I also have a brand new Sony Xperia 10 II purchased not through Vodafone specially as it is a supported phone. BUT, despite calling technical support and promises of OTA provisions being sent to me, my phone does not have the WiFi calling option available. I need someone in the Vodafone technical / network team to help me.

Long story: I live in a village with poor network signal on any network. I have had SureSignal boxes for years because of this. My (third) SureSignal box just died last week (lots of complaints on this forum); Vodafone are switching the service off in September and are not selling new boxes (even more complaints on this forum) - so WiFi calling is the only option. My increasingly falling apart Pixel 2 isn't supported, so I bought a new Sony Xperia 10 II from a third party - explicitly as it is a supported handset and the Vodafone WiFi calling T&Cs do not state that handsets must be bought through them. Get the new phone, run loads of updates to the latest firmware, double/triple check WiFi calling enabled on my account, but no option as described. Phone Vodafone technical support on 15th March - passed between different teams and told that I will get an OTA provisioning update within 24 hours that should fix the problem. So, 48 hours later, nothing has been received. This doesn't seem to be an uncommon issue - plenty of others with similar tails of woe on this forum. We all need a good signal, but for certain reasons I need it as an on-call volunteer for a charity (another long story).

Any ideas of solutions that I can try myself? Or do I just need that OTA provision update from Vodafone?

Extra information: WiFi calling is enabled on my account - I have swapped SIMs into a work iPhone: this works with my SIM, so it is my new handset. My phone: Sony Xperia 10 II (XQ-AU52), running Android 11, build 59.1.A.28)

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @nottherealstew 

To start Vodafone state in wi-fi-calling “ Take a look below at which devices support WiFi Calling and SMS over WiFi, when bought from us. Please note that phones bought from other UK telecom providers are unlikely to support our WiFi calling, with the exception of iPhones, which should work regardless. 

Devices might not be compatible when bought from third parties, we’re working with these other manufacturers to add our settings ”

That said we have seen past posts where a person has successfully made calling Over Wi-Fi work on eligible phone's not bought directly from Vodafone but that's the expand not the norm.

The information I have is ......

Calling Over WiFi Set up. Ask the agent to force the phone via sending an OTA configuration update that should provision your phone for Calling Over WiFi.  This is important.. 

"Register for Vodafone Wi-Fi Calling
Text the word CALLING to 97888
This is a free text which will add the service to your account
You should receive the following confirmation text:
Thanks. We’ll add Wi-Fi Calling to your account in the next 24 hours and will let you know when you’re all set up.
If you’d like to discuss this with us, or if you have any other issues, you can find more info here or contact us
Once you receive the confirmation text, switch on Wi-Fi Calling in your settings
Go to Settings, scroll down and choose the Application icon
Choose Phone and scroll down until you see Wi-Fi Calling – select the box beside this option
A pop-up will appear asking you to confirm if you want to enable Wi-Fi Calling – tap OK"
Make sure Calling Over Wi-Fi is turned on in your myvodafone.
Calling Over Wi-Fi will only activate when there is no network connection. Test by activating Flight Mode on your phone.

[nottherealstew]

@bandofbrothers

Thanks for this...

So, Vodafone may not (likely will not) allow it because I didn't buy a supported phone from Vodafone themselves. That information is on the website but it is not in the T&Cs. Would it not be simpler to say phones on conract from Vodafone are supported?

Disappointing situation considering its Vodafone's turning off of SureSignal I'm in this position. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Totally appreciate your viewpoint on this @nottherealstew especially with the Sure Signal being removed from service.

As I mentioned people have got this working on their phone's but it's hit and miss.

As they exclude iPhone's from this criteria it may be down to because there are so many iterations of Android because it's open source so they can't guarantee it will work. 

iOS is made by Apple for Apple devices so there's no outside influence on it.

This is totally my own personal opinion on this and not Vodafone's.

[hrym]

Wifi calling does work with some devices bought SIM free elsewhere, but you do need to check the compatibility list.   I have a Sony L3, bought from Argos, which worked out of the box.   Although different models from the same manufacturer should work in the same way, for reasons I've never understood, they don't all get wifi calling.

[WelshPaul]

I would try disabling WiFi calling via your online account and wait a few hours before re-enabling it by texting CALLING to 97888. It may help push the OTA update you need to enable it on the phone. 🤞

Open up the Phone application > tap the menu button (three vertical dots) > Settings > Calls > Wi-Fi Calling. Tap the switch beside Off to enable Wi-Fi Calling.

Working on my SIM free Samsung S21 Ultra 5G.

[hrym]

Worth adding that, ifyou have the option to toggle it on in Settings, it should work.   However, if the device isn't supported, the option won't appear.