Wifi calling, unlocked phones and Verizon's greed
Ventuckyspaz
Enthusiast - Level 3

So I purchased a 2020 Motorola Stylus like a week after it came out directly from them. I quickly figured out I couldn't make or receive calls at home because while I get a good LTE signal I have a very poor CDMA connection. I had a prepaid account at the time and neither Motorola or Verizon had an answer to why my phone wouldn't get VoLTE. I then put my sister's post paid SIM card in my phone and VoLTE showed up on my menu. I called Verizon back and said that my phone works with VoLTE and then they admitted that VoLTE is not available for prepaid accounts. I've had this account for over 6 years. To their credit they "upgraded" my account to a post paid account to I could have have that "feature" on my phone.

 

I ended up getting a second line and adding my mom to it getting the same exact model that I had. Hers had wifi calling enabled on it. Mine didn't and when I asked them about it they basically told me that unlocked phones are blocked from the Verizon network from wifi calling even if the phone is capable of it. This is a bogus policy because of three reasons. If I went with T-mobile and put their SIM card into my phone then wifi calling options would be enabled in the menu and I could make phone calls through the internet with their service, the second thing is my mom has the exact same make and model as my phone does and wifi calling works on it. The third thing is that because my mom's phone works with Verizon wifi calling and mine doesn't it's a decision by Verizon to try to force people with phones that work with wifi calling to buy a new one from Verizon just to jack up the bill. Oh and the fourth thing is that for super expensive Apple, Samsung and Google phones that are unlocked they will gladly enable wifi calling service from them but for less expensive phones they refuse to do the same thing it's totally unacceptable. Their employees have no idea that this is the policy and doesn't warn you when you open a post paid account. Infact I had tier 2 Verizon tech support continuously try to enable VoLTE and I the customer had to figure out why it wouldn't work.

 

Seeing that VoLTE can be enabled or not depending on what type of Verizon account you have I believe the same thing goes with wifi calling. I have the exact same model as my mom yet hers same with wifi calling and I'm told that it can't be enabled on mine. It's fine I use Google Voice which works with the internet and with LTE and I call forward my Verizon cell phone to Google Voice so I can get transcripted visual voice mail for free. With GV I can make and receive calls on my phone regardless if I'm on WiFi for LTE. I'm also able to get great VM functions for free. I've been considering porting my Verizon number over to Google because they fill in the gaps I get with my service with Verizon. Especially when they end CDMA service at the end of the years they are going to have a ton of angry off customers. I'd actually be ready to by a phone from Verizon but I like having the Stylus and the 2021 model terrible and doesn't really offer much over the 2020 model PLUS VERIZON DOESN'T SELL IT anyways just the crappie 2021 Power model. The 5G stylus being sold on Motorola's website but unless when Verizon is willing to sell it to me (assuming they carry thus model) for around $10 or less a month I'm not going to pay full retail price for a phone that's barely nicer that mine. I got the original Stylus because I was sick of how much the camera horrid in the G7. Also when I signed up for the post paid and a few months later I added 3 lines they had the Stylus for $5 a month which is why it for my mom. I would have gotten another one for by brother's wife had I knew they were going to jack up the price back to $10ish dollars. They claim the 2020 Stylus retail price is $300 when they sell the 2021 Stylus for $300 right now on Motorola's site. My brother and his wife live in an area where they get 1 bar LTE and no service in the house. My brother has the iPhone 11 so it gets wifi calling but had the Verizon sales person explained to me that it's their policy to block unlocked phones that cost less that $800 from having that service I would have gotten another stylus for my brother's wife since it was only $5 a month. I'm not happy that I pay $190 for 4 lines and the two lines that was a byop never has any good deals on phones. I set up my brother's wife with Google Voice. Why have a policy that aggrivates the heck out of the customer and now there are ways around your wifi calling restrictions. 

 

IT'S TIME FOR VERIZON TO STOP BEING GREEDY ABOUT THEIR WIFI CALLING AND ALSO TO OFFER BETTER PHONE DEALS TO CUSTOMERS WITH LINES THAY THEY HAVEN'T HAD A VERIZON PHONE BEFORE. I check out the store every month or two and there isn't anything appealing. The phones either terrible worse than my own or they are so expensive it wouldn't be a consideration. I don't like Apple or Samsung phones. Anyways I'm not too happy with my service but I live on the mountains above San Bernardino and you have the best service up there even though it doesn't work in a lot of spots. Any other carrier would be worse service but my bill is almost $190 are most of your customers bills like over $350? Anyways I'm disappointed in multitude of ways with the customer service I'm getting here.

Re: Wifi calling, unlocked phones and Verizon's greed
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

We definitely want to make sure that you have a device that performs the way you need it to. Was the device going from 4G LTE to 3G or 1x when you attempted to make a call?

 

*Peter

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Re: Wifi calling, unlocked phones and Verizon's greed
Ventuckyspaz
Enthusiast - Level 3

When I'm at home I have a halfway strong 4G LTE signal. As I drive around the mountain my signal will change or completely drop out. Sometimes it gets 3x or 1x which don't seem to be very usable. I've just gotten to know where on the mountain your antennas are. I get it we're on the top of a mountain with various heights above sea level. It's just weird that the main highway 18 you get a signal 3/4 of the way up but then you basically get no signal for the rest of the route until you get close to my house. My brother and his wife live in the very back of Crestline (the first city at the top of highway 18) and they get a single bar outside their house and no signal inside. My brother's phone we got from you so it has wifi calling but his wife I had to set up Google Voice for her incase she wanted to use her phone in the house. She literally has to step out front to be able to get a good enough signal to send or receive on Verizon. Had I knew that the unlocked Motorola 7G wasn't going to be allowed to use its wifi calling I would have also gotten her a Motorola Stylus when you had it for $5 a month. Now you want $10ish which is way too much for a phone that's now considered a second generation. You also say it's retail is $300 and I can get the phone new for about $200 but since it wouldn't be from Verizon the wifi calling would be disabled on it.

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