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Wifi Calling on Pixel 3 and Pixel 3XL

bhavshah
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

Now that Vodafone is selling the Pixel phones, should we expect Wifi Calling to become available on the Pixel 3 and 3XL?

 

And, for the avoidance of doubt, would this apply to Pixel phones bought elsewhere as well as those bought from Vodafone directly?

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

With pretty much every single phone on the market - Vodafone or whatever mobile phone operator you choose - will have their own customised version of the phone's firmware, only phones with their version of the firmware will have the correct settings to access WiFi calling on their network. Only phones they sell will have their firmware.

 

If you buy from elsewhere you'll have the generic manufacturers version of the firmware or even another mobile phone operator's version - so WiFi calling and VoLTE won't work. There is no technical reason why these features couldn't work - even though the networks will claim that it's a compatibility issue, it's not, it would be very simple to have it working. They just want you to be forced to buy your phone on contract, from them. 

 

However the iPhone and the Pixel phones don't have this - they have one single version of their firmware that is controlled centrally by Apple/Google. The operator submits their settings and they're included in the software or downloaded on demand when a SIM from X operator is detected.

 

Therefore, the mobile phone company cannot control it anymore. Either every single Pixel 3 will have WiFi calling and VoLTE or none will have it. Every other operator has said the Pixel 3 will have WiFi calling and VoLTE. It's highly unlikely that Vodafone will say no and be the odd one out, especially if the Pixel 3 turns out to be a big seller. 

 

The only way they could control it is to maintain a list of IMEI numbers (like serial numbers) and block it phone by phone like that - since they haven't blocked iPhones in that way, that would be a blatant prejudice and they'd look very bad - maybe Google would even intervene?

 

I'd say it's almost certain we'll get WiFi calling and VoLTE on our Pixel 3s - the only question is how long it will take them to get their a*ses into gear and do it. 

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48 REPLIES 48

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

They may become eligible in time @bhavshah

I'd suggest to watch this page Vodafone Wifi Calling.

Going from that page it appears it's the Vodafone Brand name phones that need to have been bought directly from Vodafone to work. 

However nothing is in stone until its shown on the above page. 

Vodafone also have a blog page too to watch. 

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

Nabs
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

If it aint brought from Vodafone it's unlikely it'll ever see Wifi or VoLTE calling.
It's just one of the ways they try and tie you in to buying a device directly through them unfortunately. :Sad_face:

Unless things have changed (I don't think they have), the whole idea of the Pixel phones is that they have one version of the software, direct from Google, in the same way that the iPhone does with Apple. 

 

So it shouldn't matter where you bought your Pixel 3 from - if they enable it it will work on every Pixel 3 phone where ever it was purchased from. 

 

Also, the other three major networks have all confirmed that they'll enable it for the Pixel 3 soon (ish), so I can't see Vodafone not doing. 

If they don't have it working within the next few months, I'll definitely be leaving them - now that I have every other network to choose from. 

Well even if that's the case (which I'm not sure is, because Vodafone could still choose to block handsets purchased elsewhere), I wanted to know if Vodafone will support it at all... given that they failed to support original Pixel or Pixel 2.

 

I am hoping that by selling the Pixel 3 there's a higher chance they will decide to support wifi calling on it...

With one version of the software, they can't tell where you bought it from and they can't selectively block it because if one phone has the ability and it's enabled then all do - unless they're going to maintain a database of all the IMEI numbers of all the phones they've sold and disallow access based on that.

 

They haven't done that with iPhones so why would they with the Pixel 3?

 

Now that they sell the phone themselves and it's kind of a flagship phone, I don't see why they'd hold back on WiFi calling and VoLTE. If they do then that would be completely ridiculous and would be shooting themselves in the foot. I'd definitely leave. 

 

 

 

Well they did restrict in early days of wifi calling being available when it originally rolled out to Samsung Galaxy devices - it only worked when purchased from Vodafone (and explicitly said so on the website).

 

So I'm not holding my breath...!

With pretty much every single phone on the market - Vodafone or whatever mobile phone operator you choose - will have their own customised version of the phone's firmware, only phones with their version of the firmware will have the correct settings to access WiFi calling on their network. Only phones they sell will have their firmware.

 

If you buy from elsewhere you'll have the generic manufacturers version of the firmware or even another mobile phone operator's version - so WiFi calling and VoLTE won't work. There is no technical reason why these features couldn't work - even though the networks will claim that it's a compatibility issue, it's not, it would be very simple to have it working. They just want you to be forced to buy your phone on contract, from them. 

 

However the iPhone and the Pixel phones don't have this - they have one single version of their firmware that is controlled centrally by Apple/Google. The operator submits their settings and they're included in the software or downloaded on demand when a SIM from X operator is detected.

 

Therefore, the mobile phone company cannot control it anymore. Either every single Pixel 3 will have WiFi calling and VoLTE or none will have it. Every other operator has said the Pixel 3 will have WiFi calling and VoLTE. It's highly unlikely that Vodafone will say no and be the odd one out, especially if the Pixel 3 turns out to be a big seller. 

 

The only way they could control it is to maintain a list of IMEI numbers (like serial numbers) and block it phone by phone like that - since they haven't blocked iPhones in that way, that would be a blatant prejudice and they'd look very bad - maybe Google would even intervene?

 

I'd say it's almost certain we'll get WiFi calling and VoLTE on our Pixel 3s - the only question is how long it will take them to get their a*ses into gear and do it. 

gram1210
4: Newbie

Now that the Pixel 3 is in people's hands, when can we expect Wi-Fi calling to be enabled? 

Hi, So I tried to get my Pixel 3 XL enabled with Wifi calling.  It was got it direct from google direct.  I've spent 4 days trying and the final answer was that if i had bought the phone from them then it would work as they would able to change the setting.  I explained that all the firmware was the same and they needed to do was to send me the configuration in some way.  They went to explain that they could not configure it but could not explain why not and got a bit flustered and mentioned again that if i had bought it from then it would al be fine....I did explain that carrier standard carrier setting are supplied by google and that all phones be it from goole or direct from vodaphone would have exactly the dame firmware and settings and that there should be no technical reason why they could not enable it.  

 

Looks like i'm moving at the end of my current contract.