Wifi calling with Vodafone not available on my phone. (Realme 8)

[barryd999]

I bought a Realme 8 phone this week because I wanted something sub £200 with great battery life, fast charging and Wifi Calling.  Mobile signal is weak here and sometimes it drops off and I also spend a lot of time off grid so the Realme 8 ticked all the boxes. Long story short I cannot get the Wifi calling to work on this phone and after talking to various support lines including finally Vodafone, Vodafone themselves have confirmed that they do not support wifi calling on this phone and that is why it is not available as an option in my settings.  It would appear apparently if I put in an EE sim.

The support agent who to be fair tried all sorts to help me before one of the senior advisors confirmed it was the model of phone that was the issue sent me this link that shows which phones are compatible with Vodafone wifi calling.  https://www.vodafone.co.uk/business/business-mobile-plans/mobile-plan-features/vodafone-wi-fi-callin...

Some of these are quite old so what is the issue?  Is it just that Vodafone have not got round to enabling wifi calling to work on the Realme 8 and if so is it likely to become an option in the near future or should I be looking at another model phone thats on their list. Most of them are no longer available new.

[Tonym10]

I have a similar problem with a Samsung phone bought from Carphone Warehouse on a Vodafone contract.  I've not got it working on Vodafone but tried a Voxi sim.  Immediatly I received an OTA settings update and wifi calling worked.  Unfortunately when I reverted to the Vodafone sim it stopped.

[Tonym10]

Should have said,  my model is on the list supported by Vodafone if bought from them.

[Tonym10]

Success!  My phone is now working with wifi calling on Vodafone.  I thought it might be useful to document what I did.

Firstly I proved it could work on the Vodafone network wifi calling by installing a Voxi sim. Voxi are owned by Vodafone and use the Vodafone network.  As soon as I turned my phone on with the Voxi sim an OTA update came through and wifi calling worked.  The fact that this worked seemed to carry some weight when I spoke to someone.

Secondly I raised a complaint through this website - Resolver UK specifically mentioning what happened with Voxi. This seemed to get the issue to someone who knew what they were talking about.  It still took a 30 minute phone call but at the end of it they sent an OTA update that worked.

[mcallim7]

congrats on solving the issue with your Samsung phone

Unfortunately us Realme users are still waiting

[Seden]

Hi, I have exactly the same phone and the same problem. Did / how did you manage to get this sorted please?

[barryd999]

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@Seden wrote:

Hi, I have exactly the same phone and the same problem. Did / how did you manage to get this sorted please?

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Never did. Gave up ages ago. Just use Whatsapp if need be but it would be good to get a solution.

[mcallim7]

They didn't fix it

Looks like u need to buy a Vodafone phone or a model they sell direct, limiting customer choice.

Think my choice will be to change network once my contract has expired.

[Seden]

Hi, what a shame. Looks like they won't support Realme phones as they are not common. Having researched, looks like all the main networks are the same. I might just change my phone to one that is supported, annoying as my current phone is really good for the reasons you mention. Thanks for getting back to me.