Wifi Calling Service on BYOD Unlocked Phones

[BRIMAC41]

When will Vz certify/activate the use of Wifi calling on BYOD unlocked phones?

Currently I do have HD Calling / Wi-Fi Calling provisioned on my account.

I purchased a Moto X4 standard (XT-1900-1) directly from Moto after verifying from Moto & VZ that the phone was fully compatible with the Vz network.

However, it appears that Vz will not allow unlocked BYOD phones to use their Wi-Fi Calling feature (unlike T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T).  after many hours of troubleshooting on the phone & web with both tier 1 & 2 support at VZ & Moto the only answer that I get is that it should work but each company blames the other for the issue.

I would note that the phone currently has Oreo 8.0.0 and there are no options within the settings menus to activate or turn on/off Wif calling.

I have tried to turn off your Cellular data when making the call to have it force a switch to Wi-Fi Calling with with no luck.

I even took a look at the newest Vz network extender 2.  Unfortunately, my Vz HDSL only provides 4-6 Mbps Down & 0.5-0.8 Mbps Up which is substantially less than Vz's minimum requirement of 10 Mbps Down & 5 Mbps Up and woefully lower than VZ's preferable rates of 20 Mbps Down & 10 Mbps Up.

I have been a loyal customer for more than 30 years residential and more than 20 years wireless & Internet.

There must be some way for Vz to activate the Wifi Calling feature for BYOD phones since the phones that they sell are unlocked currently.

If that is not possible, will Vz be bringing the X4 to there lineup with the Wifi calling  feature functional?

[vzw_customer_support]

BRIMAC41-

As a consumer myself, I certainly understand the importance of using WIFI calling especially since it is included with your plan. A "Bring Your Own Device" can certainly work in our network as long as it is unlocked; however, we don't have control over the availability of the features we provide that are not available from your unlocked phone. The reason why is that it is a software that your phone should have if the phone was manufactured for Verizon. While we can activate your non Verizon unlocked phone, unfortunately, some features like WIFI calling may not work up to our network. The best way to prevent this from happening is to acquire a Verizon device to ensure it has all the necessary software that it needs to work with the features that we offer. Please know that we can't modify your phone's software as this is done by the manufacturer. We provide you the service and can guarantee the full functionality of the phone as long as it is a Verizon device. 

At this time, we don't have information on the Moto X4, so I apologize for the inconvenience. You may sign up for email alerts about our latest products and services at https://vz.to/1m2tKLh

CarmenT_VZW
Follow us on TWITTER @VZWSupport
If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[SarcasticDalek]

This wasn't entirely accurate until the Oreo update. I have an unlocked Samsung Note 8. Before the Oreo update, I was able to get into the internal settings on the phone and switch wifi calling and HD calling back on. The carrier clearly disables this on unlocked phones even though it worked perfectly fine. VZW just wants me to spend an extra 100 to 200 dollars so I can have a device loaded with bloatware I will never use. It works, they just switch it off. The feature is still in an unlocked device, you just have to find the work around.

[Zlew02]

This is a weak reply, and is misleading.

I had to get a T-Mobil Sim card due to traveling in a place with no Verizon service.   I pop the sim card in my unlocked, samsumg direct purchace S9+,  first thing that pops up-  Wifi calling is on!  The android menu  under advanced features now has all of the wifi/HD voice options that disappear when my Verizon sim is in.    Verizon is suppressing it, not the phone, not android.  

[boringusername]

Zlew02 wrote:

This is a weak reply, and is misleading.

I had to get a T-Mobil Sim card due to traveling in a place with no Verizon service. I pop the sim card in my unlocked, samsumg direct purchace S9+, first thing that pops up- Wifi calling is on! The android menu under advanced features now has all of the wifi/HD voice options that disappear when my Verizon sim is in. Verizon is suppressing it, not the phone, not android.

you do get T-Mobile's wi-fi calling is not the same as Verizon's. your unlocked device doesn't have Verizon's wifi calling software, if you want to be on Verizon and want to use wi-fi calling. get a phone designed specifically to work on verizon

[billymac108]

you are correct. verizon is intentionally blocking wifi calling as well as using your phone as a hotspot/tether

[boringusername]

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@billymac108 wrote:

you are correct. verizon is intentionally blocking wifi calling as well as using your phone as a hotspot/tether

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Wrong. Yes wi-calling is blocked on some unlocked phones. Not a Verizon thing blame the phone manufactures. Apple, Samsung, Google devices have no such issues They do not block hotspot/tether. Quit with the conspiracy theories If you dislike and don't trust Verizon why are you still giving them money?

[saintsteve]

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@boringusername wrote:

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@billymac108 wrote:

you are correct. verizon is intentionally blocking wifi calling as well as using your phone as a hotspot/tether

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Wrong. Yes wi-calling is blocked on some unlocked phones. Not a Verizon thing blame the phone manufactures. Apple, Samsung, Google devices have no such issues They do not block hotspot/tether. Quit with the conspiracy theories If you dislike and don't trust Verizon why are you still giving them money?

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Wrong. VZW intentionally blocks wifi calling on unlocked non verizon phones. The only work around other than buying a verizon phone is to have the Verizon firmware flashed to your unlocked phone.

Verizon is playing the "good cop bad cop" game by blaming the manufacturers. It is true that they provide the firmware on the phones but are blocking wifi calling on non verizon phones in accordance with their contact with verizon.

I had two identical Moto g6 phones, one unlocked and one Verizon branded. No option for wifi calling on the unlocked phone and wifi calling working perfectly on the VZW model.

After several calls to Moto tech support it was established that Verizon blocks wifi calling on non VZW phones.

Look out Verizon, John Lagere is coming to get you!

[boringusername]

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@saintsteve wrote:

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@boringusername wrote:

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@billymac108 wrote:

you are correct. verizon is intentionally blocking wifi calling as well as using your phone as a hotspot/tether

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Wrong. Yes wi-calling is blocked on some unlocked phones. Not a Verizon thing blame the phone manufactures. Apple, Samsung, Google devices have no such issues They do not block hotspot/tether. Quit with the conspiracy theories If you dislike and don't trust Verizon why are you still giving them money?

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Wrong. VZW intentionally blocks wifi calling on unlocked non verizon phones. The only work around other than buying a verizon phone is to have the Verizon firmware flashed to your unlocked phone.

Verizon is playing the "good cop bad cop" game by blaming the manufacturers. It is true that they provide the firmware on the phones but are blocking wifi calling on non verizon phones in accordance with their contact with verizon.

I had two identical Moto g6 phones, one unlocked and one Verizon branded. No option for wifi calling on the unlocked phone and wifi calling working perfectly on the VZW model.

After several calls to Moto tech support it was established that Verizon blocks wifi calling on non VZW phones.

Look out Verizon, John Lagere is coming to get you!

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Wi-fi calling works on unocked iPhones, unlocked Galaxy phones( at least 9 and 10 series )and unlocked Pixels.

[tgm1024]

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@saintsteve wrote:

Wrong. VZW intentionally blocks wifi calling on unlocked non verizon phones. The only work around other than buying a verizon phone is to have the Verizon firmware flashed to your unlocked phone.

Verizon is playing the "good cop bad cop" game by blaming the manufacturers. It is true that they provide the firmware on the phones but are blocking wifi calling on non verizon phones in accordance with their contact with verizon.

I had two identical Moto g6 phones, one unlocked and one Verizon branded. No option for wifi calling on the unlocked phone and wifi calling working perfectly on the VZW model.

After several calls to Moto tech support it was established that Verizon blocks wifi calling on non VZW phones.

Look out Verizon, John Lagere is coming to get you!

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You're wrong. (At least as of June, 2019 in my experience with the S10+, and absolutely beforehand as evidenced by other's reports.)

Unlocked iPhones (reportedly), Google Pixel 3 (reportedly), and now my current phone, an Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S10+ bought directly from Samsung (My OWN first hand experience), ALL WORK WITH WIFI CALLING.

The option is grayed out at first, but if you go to a verizon rep at a Verizon store, he can turn it on for you.  He did for me.  Some say a phone call will suffice.  You need to do this even if you previously had wifi calling enabled....just do it again.  PS.  DO NOT GO TO BEST BUY FOR THIS.  I've rarely seen such disinformation as what comes from those guys.

Once it's turned on by the mother ship, the option to turn it on is then UN-grayed out.  Select that, and then it will go into a download of all necessary Verizon software (with a warning "this could take a while...").  Yes, this was on an Unlocked S10+ purchased DIRECTLY from Samsung.

Sorry for all the emphasis, but there's been too much emphatic assertions to the contrary here.

[stuffnjunk]

Thanks for this info. It got me started down the right path for sure.

My experience today (June 28th, 2019) with an unlocked Galaxy S9 was that wifi calling is available to enable under the phone app--> select the 3 dots in the upper-right corner--> select Settings. I found wifi calling there and enabled it without issue.

For advanced calling features, the feature does need to be enabled on the line (double-check with VZ customer support to confirm it's still on the line after the phone swap). Mine was no longer enabled after the swap, so they reenabled it. Go into the main phone settings-->Connections-->Mobile Networks and enable 'VoLTE Calls'. This is the same as HD calling on a Verizon specific device (so I was told). Once I enabled VoLTE Calls, I could browse the internet while on a phone call. Previously I could not.

How this helps others.

[DaveSedona]

Hello tgm1024,  can you provide more detials about what exactly was turned.  I don't have any grayed out feature on my phone.  I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that I bought unlocked from Samsung and it has been working great on t-mobile, including Wifi Dialing.  After porting to Verizon today I realized Wifi Dialing is no longer a feature showing anywhere in my settings or applications.  I talked to a Verizon Tech and his only solution is to buy a Verizon phone, he said Verizon does not support Wifi Dialing on unlocked phones.  I would even be interested in rooting my phone to enable this feature if anyone has any suggestions there.

[tgm1024]

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@DaveSedona wrote:

Hello tgm1024,  can you provide more detials about what exactly was turned.  I don't have any grayed out feature on my phone.  I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that I bought unlocked from Samsung and it has been working great on t-mobile, including Wifi Dialing.  After porting to Verizon today I realized Wifi Dialing is no longer a feature showing anywhere in my settings or applications.  I talked to a Verizon Tech and his only solution is to buy a Verizon phone, he said Verizon does not support Wifi Dialing on unlocked phones.  I would even be interested in rooting my phone to enable this feature if anyone has any suggestions there.

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Honestly, I wish I knew.  It seemed like a mini flurry of tap-tap-tap-tap-drag-tap-tap-drag-tap on the Verizon tablet that I couldn't see.

I don't think that rooting your phone is going to help in this case.  You might be confusing two things, I'm not sure.

To clarify, just so we're on the same page:

1. Rooting a phone, means giving yourself "root" access (think of it as super-user or Administrator priviledges on Windows).  It allows you to turn things on or off that any phone would not normally allow (locked or not).

2. A locked phone just means it's locked to a carrier.  Now hold on, this part gets dicey.  The carrier writes their own bootloader, and in the case of Verizon, many bootloaders cannot be cracked any longer, which completely removes your ability to either root or root-and-reload-new-ROM.  (PS: Unfortunately, "ROM" in this case is a misnomer used among hackers. *rolls eyes*  It doesn't mean read-only-memory.  It simply means a different Android image.)

2B. To get a sense as to how brutally comples the bootloader can be, my ancient Verizon locked Galaxy Note II from 2012, the SCH-i605 version, still has not been cracked.  Some have announced that they have managed to "root" it even with the Verizon bootloader intact, but no one can replicate it without bricking the bejeebers out of their phone.

[cliffj0441]

Its funny, straight out of the box my Note 8 unlocked phone wifi calling worked and it even connected to my verizon network extender. 30 something software updates my phone will no longer wifi call or connect to my verizon network extender???

[tgm1024]

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@cliffj0441 wrote:

Its funny, straight out of the box my Note 8 unlocked phone wifi calling worked and it even connected to my verizon network extender. 30 something software updates my phone will no longer wifi call or connect to my verizon network extender???

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I've heard this before.  Did it by chance coincide with a download of Oreo?

[MIElectric]

God I love it, someone says that wifi on unlocked phone wont work because each side (phone and carrier) are blaming eachothers software. And then a Verizon rep comes on and says it will work, and then explains why it wont work blaming the phones software.

They offer a perfectly valid, completely useless answer. Thanks guys. Software is maliable to say something wont work on their system when it absolutely works on another means that one of a few things is going on. 1. the carrier refuses to allow their system to have software installed on other phones to work with their network, due to "proprietary" concerns. The manufacturer obviously has the protocols for each carrier so they COULD put the software in there on a universal setup, probably COULD have a setting in the system to select which carrier software to use, BUT they dont BECAUSE they were told not to do that. 2. Government regulation restricts them from being able to setup said software for some reason or another. 3. the manufacturers refuse to set the software up to work because they have bound the carriers in some agreement.

But whatever the case, as we have seen with wifi hotspots, until someone takes them all to court they wont change until they are forced to. If there is a software person out there that can modify even 1 phone to do it, then the claim that it cant be done will fall and the courts could force them to do it.

So basically it cant be done, they arent going to tell you why exactly, mostly because the people who answer these probably arent high enough on the food chain to know exactly why, and they will give the answer they are told to give. But in the end it doesnt work because they dont want it to, if they wanted it to they would figure it out, so if you want it to, you'll have to figure it out, which is unlikely because they arent going to be helpful in the process.

The first carrier who figures out how to allow this to happen will get a huge boost to their market share though, just saying.

[Wificaller]

Verizon really needs to sort this out.  Other carriers such as T-mobile have this figured out.  I have been a verizon customer for over seven years.  I recently switched from a Galaxy S6 to a S8+ (unlocked) that i purchased online.  I am currently off contract and can only use wifi calling in my home and workplace.  I have had extensive conversations with VZ and Samsung and it appears my only option for wifi calling is to switch carriers.  

As I stated before, T-Mobile has this issue figured out.  The VZ support tech informed me there is no way for VZ to update my software and has no idea who is responsible for the software that is installed at the time of manufacture.  Samsung said the same thing.  So VZ is either intentionally withholding features to incentivize purchases of VZ phones or there is significant negligence and incompetence in terms of software management.  This should not be a difficult issue to remedy and it appears VZ is more concerned with selling phones than retaining customer loyalty.  This is not a wise business practice. I guess I'll give T-mobile a shot.

[NewOldcustomer]

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@Wificaller wrote:

Verizon really needs to sort this out.  Other carriers such as T-mobile have this figured out.  I have been a verizon customer for over seven years.  I recently switched from a Galaxy S6 to a S8+ (unlocked) that i purchased online.  I am currently off contract and can only use wifi calling in my home and workplace.  I have had extensive conversations with VZ and Samsung and it appears my only option for wifi calling is to switch carriers.  

    Did I misunderstand your post?  “. . . can only use wifi calling in my home and workplace. “    So are you saying the unlocks S8+ does work with WiFi calling?    I’m missing the problem.  

As I stated before, T-Mobile has this issue figured out.  The VZ support tech informed me there is no way for VZ to update my software and has no idea who is responsible for the software that is installed at the time of manufacture.  Samsung said the same thing.  So VZ is either intentionally withholding features to incentivize purchases of VZ phones or there is significant negligence and incompetence in terms of software management.  This should not be a difficult issue to remedy and it appears VZ is more concerned with selling phones than retaining customer loyalty.  This is not a wise business practice. I guess I'll give T-mobile a shot.

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I’m quite sure carriers want us to stick around and installments are how they do so. From all the posts I’ve read the Samsung unlocked flagships can work with WiFi calling.  So I’m puzzled unless you desire another brand phone. 

[shannonld]

I see from multiple other replies in this thread that this is Verizon choosing to punish people with unlocked phones since this feature somehow magically works with sim cards from other networks.  It's a shame because I had planned on picking up my box for fios tomorrow expecting to be able to use wireless calling in my house which is a dead zone for cell phones.  Now it seems I will be cancelling both of my and my husband's phone contracts and the planned high speed internet contract and giving that to other providers.  Both the wireless and my phone is useless without wireless calling, and more importantly I feel deceived.  You should tell whatever blockhead in sales came up with this plan that he just lost two loyal customers.

[vzw_customer_support]

We would never want you to leave the Verizon family, shannonld. I can understand that it is confusing to find out that Wi-Fi Calling is not operable on your unlocked phone. To help explain, these phones have not gone through the checks that are needed to support certain Verizon branded features. While the phone may offer basic network  interoperability functionality, it doesn't have the certifications needed to ensure that features such as Wi-Fi Calling will work the way that we would expect and want for an optimal experience. This is a matter of quality standards, not an initiative put forth by a sales team.  Does this help explain? 

RyanM_VZW

[saintsteve]

What a bunch of nonsense. You are telling me that my 2 otherwise identical moto g6's, one unlocked and the other VZW flashed do not have the same QC testing or specs? Of course the VZW has wifi calling and the unlocked one does not.

This is an intentional move by Verizon to discourage the use of non VZW phones on their network. You are also in the blame game business, VZW blames Motorola and Motorola blames VZW. Since my unlocked phone works flawlessly with all other carriers, I know where the blame lies.