wifi calling

[antoourfalian]

Hello,

I have tried many times to activate the WIFI calling feature on my DROID TURBO 2 but to no avail. I just get the error message saying "Unable to activate Wi-Fi calling at this time. Please try again later."

Please help.

[Ann154]

Is the Wifi calling feature activated on your line? Do you have the latest version of the OS?

[antoourfalian]

how do i activate it on my line? i have the OS updated to the latest

[Ann154]

Sign into your MyVerizon account online and add the HD Voice feature on your line.

[antoourfalian]

That had already been done on my account and HD voice had already been enabled with Video. I can't seem to get it to work.

[SuzyQ]

I'm getting the same error message tonight on my Pixel - trying to experiment with wifi calling and it won't turn on.

I have HD enabled on my Verizon account online; I have Advanced Calling turned on in my phone settings.  When I try to turn on wifi calling, it spins for a bit, then says "...try again later".  Rebooted the phone, cleared cache, still no go.

Guess I won't be experimenting with it tonight after all ...

[SuzyQ]

My husband's Pixel does the same thing.  We have HD and video calling enabled (and have used the video calling feature; it works) but wifi just spins and then says it can't be enabled and to try again later. 

[Ann154]

I guess it is a good thing I never turned the wifi calling on yet on my phone.

[SuzyQ]

We plan to do some traveling over the next couple of months, and there may be places where wifi is a better option than cellular, so I wanted to test it out and see how/if it worked and how well.

Update:  Tonight the wifi setup went through - although it doesn't seem to be using wifi.  I turned off cellular, made a call and there was no indication if it was wifi or cellular - I thought there was an icon or indicator in the status bar when a call was over wifi?

Anyway, I'll leave it on and see how things go over the next couple of days.  Stay tuned...

[Ann154]

It might be worth trying it in Airplane Mode with the WiFi radio turned on.

[SuzyQ]

All in good time!  Tomorrow is another day to experiment.

[rcschnoor]

No, there is not an icon in the status bar, but in the pull-down quick settings menu, there is an indicator about wifi calling:

[SuzyQ]

I don't see that icon at all in the pull down, regardless if I am on a call or not.  Also, in the Wifi settings, it says "Cellular preferred" under Wifi calling and I can't figure out where or how to change that to wifi preferred.  If have it set to wifi under roaming... that still doesn't change anything.

I feel like I'm missing something basic here, it shouldn't be that hard to set up!!

And another thing while I'm thinking of it - updating your 911 address to use the wifi calling ... it would seem to make much more sense to use the phone's location, rather than have the user input the address of wherever they are at.  My location changes frequently, and odds are, if I'm calling 911 on my cell I'm NOT at home.  WHo' going to constantly update their address?  Like today, I'm headed out to make some client calls - I'll be on the road and in several locations.  Will I remember to update the address all day long?  Nope.  An option to use the phone's GPS makes way more sense to me - after all, Facebook and Google maps knows exactly where I am!!

[rcschnoor]

There is no setting to make it wifi preferred for calls. The only way I am aware of is to turn cellular off and leave wifi on. I got that by entering airplane mode and then turning wifi back on.

As to the address, I agree, but that is how they have it set up. It isn't Verizon, but the wifi calling framework as far as I know. If I remember correctly, it was the same way when I had Project Fi for a period of time.

I find it odd that there doesn't seem to be ANY interface with location services and the wifi address as you can't even tell it to use your current location. Instead you have to enter it in manually. I don't necessarily know my address location at any given point in time. For what it's worth, I never update my wifi location away from my home address. I guess I will have to do so if I need to call 911.

[SuzyQ]

Revisiting this, as I seem to have lost my wifi calling setup - airplane mode, regular mode, wifi strong signal - just spins and says "Try again later" - how do you get wifi calling set up and stable???  I was unable to use it while traveling last month - not a big deal but it would have been nice for the few calls we ended having to use a landline for. because there was no cell signal, but we did have solid wifi.

[rcschnoor]

Just checked and I don't seem to be having any problem on my Pixel, although wifi calling was turned off on my device. I thought I had it turned on. Possibly some update had turned it off?

Regardless, I just go into settings > Wireless & networks > Wi-Fi calling > I turned it on and on "Roaming preference" I switched it to "Wi-Fi". I don't see a setting for regular preference and it defaults to "Cellular preferred". My "Update Emergency Address" was still set the same as I had previously set it. Had no problem turning it on and it did so within a second or two.

I don't know if this is a factor or not, but I have the Google version of the Pixel, not the Verizon version. I was using my Galaxy S7 Edge last week and as far as I know, the Wi-Fi calling was turned on for that device, too.

[SuzyQ]

rcschnoor wrote:

... Regardless, I just go into settings > Wireless & networks > Wi-Fi calling > I turned it on and on "Roaming preference" I switched it to "Wi-Fi". I don't see a setting for regular preference and it defaults to "Cellular preferred". My "Update Emergency Address" was still set the same as I had previously set it. Had no problem turning it on and it did so within a second or two. I can't get beyond turning it on...

I don't know if this is a factor or not, but I have the Google version of the Pixel, not the Verizon version. I have the Verizon version - thought I had it turned on at one point but can't get it to turn on again. 

That's a problem, because I can't get to anything beyond trying to turn on wifi calling - I don't see Roaming Preference, or get an option to update Emergency Address, or even Cellular preferred.  It spins at turning on wifi calling, then says "Try again later" - like it has to be turned ON to adjust any settings, and I can't get it to turn ON!!

[Ann154]

I recently turned my wifi calling on for my Pixel. I think I didn't activate that feature until after I installed the newest security updates though so I don't know if that makes a difference. I can access the cellular or wifi preferred option on my phone. I have the Verizon model too.

[SuzyQ]

I've cleared the app cache, thinking that might improve things... no go.  Still get the spinning wheel, Please wait... then "Unable to activate wifi calling.  Please try again later."

And apparently there is no "system cache clear" on a Pixel phone, the only option would be FDR, and I'm not ready to go there yet.

Ah, well.  Guess I'm not meant to use the wifi calling option just yet.  I'll "try again later."

[RogerSC]

Don't know if this is still an issue...when I used to have a Google Pixel, I was able to use Wi-Fi calling, but also couldn't change it from "Cellular Prefered" to "Wi-Fi preferred". Decided to try T-Mobile, since I know that they can do this, T-Mobile allows the user to switch their phone to Wi-Fi preferred. That part worked great, but there were other problems with Wi-Fi calling on T-Mobile. So I came back to Verizon and found that "Wi-Fi preferred" was still set from being on T-Mobile. From that point on, until I got the next update, Wi-Fi calling on my Pixel worked really well. When the Android 7.1.2 update came along, my phone got switched back to "Cellular preferred", and again I had the same old problems that had made Wi-Fi calling on the Pixel about useless. I've since gotten rid of the Pixel since I needed Wi-Fi calling at home at the time, and the Pixel was  [Removed] by Verizon. I now have an iPhone 6S Plus, and it works perfectly with Wi-Fi calling.

However, the reason for this note is that Verizon deliberately chooses to [Removed] Wi-Fi calling on the Google Pixel by not allowing "Wi-Fi preferred" to be set. As I said, during the week or two that I had "Wi-Fi Preferred" set on my Pixel, Wi-Fi calling worked perfectly (like it does on our iPhones now). I have no idea why Verizon chooses to do this, it's clear that they could allow "Wi-Fi Preferred". They must have some ulterior motive, like not supporting Google phones (even though Verizon sells them, too?), since I can't believe that they are as stupid as the choice they've made for "Cellular Preferred" makes them look. Makes me really angry when I think about it, I'd much rather be using a Google Pixel phone than an iPhone, but couldn't keep it when I had one.

As an added note, I just got the new 4G/LTE Network Extender. It gives us 4 or 5 bars of cell signal throughout my house, and works great with my wife's iPhone 6 and my iPhone 6S. So we're not using Wi-Fi calling at home anymore, but still use it where we find Wi-Fi but little or no cellular coverage. I could now get another Google Pixel and use it at home without needing Wi-Fi calling. But Wi-Fi calling will still not work right anywhere except home (unless I'm roaming, apparently) because of Verizon not allowing the "Wi-Fi Preferred" choice.

Maybe Verizon will choose to really support the Google Pixel 2 for Wi-Fi calling, and I'll be able to use that phone. Not holding my breath, Verizon seems to make some choices that are just breathtaking in how self-defeating and customer-deaf they are.

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