Virgin Media Community

[Jimbojohn55]

Hi since virgin switched local networks the whole family has problems getting a signal in some parts of our house, so without switching to a different network is there a way to turn on WiFi calling on the 3 Moto phones we have on our pay monthly plan?

[Martin_N]

Hi Jimbojohn55,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community. 

I'm sorry to hear about the issue you've been having. 

We can look into getting WiFi calling active for you. 

I will private message you no to confirm some details. 

^Martin

[Jimbojohn55]

After extensive enquiries and a number of messages back and forth with Virgin, who have really tried to help, but not been able to resolve the issue.

Motorola have confirmed that the G60s can work with WiFi calling, unfortunately this is not enabled on the Virgin network. It is on EE and Vodafone as well as others, if I go into the engineering console of the phone I can see the option to turn it on but it's greyed out. This situation leaves me with the only option to switch network as I can't get a good signal indoors. 

If you have an iPhone Virgin enable the feature, but for me with a £200 Android nope.

I expect that Virgin will catch up with other network providers in time, I hope other Virgin usershave more luck, it's been a great network till now.

[Martin_N]

Thank you for chatting with me over Private Message Jimbojohn55.

My apologies again for the outcome of this. 

^Martin

[Jimbojohn55]

No probs, if you could flag it to your marketing dept that may be useful, just looking at the SIM only deals on moneysavingexpert and all of the smaller providers let you use WiFi calling, just a shame Virgin will lose customers to them if the WiFi calls option remains switched of, I can't see the problem with enabling it as calling over Wi-fi still uses your contract minutes, the other benefit is that if you go abroad you can still call at your normal rate using WiFi without roaming charges.

Jim

[Martin_N]

I will flag this to the relevant team as feedback. 

Thank you.

^Martin

[Jimbojohn55]

Some further  research  reveals that it is often not as simple as changing  network, what appears to be happening is that many of the networks say they support wifi calling on a certain  model but if you dig down that often only applies if you buy the phone directly from them with thier own permissions set on the phone. Unless you have an Apple phone in which case apple won't let net sell them unless the wifi calling feature is enabled. 

Its a real shame that networks are using this as a ploy to limit functionality of a product on their network  unless you buy it from them, for example  I bought my g60s directly from motorola  not ebay or some shabby third party retailer, but again the wifi calling is not enabled. 

I am wondering if this a money supermarket or which issue, its just more people should be aware that you can buy a phone from a manufacturer but some networks disable some of its features unless you buy it directly from them,  im not saying Virgin do this deliberately but this also seems  to be the case with a lot of networks 

[Molly_T]

Hi Jimbojohn55, thank you for keeping us updated with your research and additional feedback. 

Please do let us know if there is anything further we can offer support with. 

All the best!

[BenMcr]

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@Jimbojohn55 wrote:

Some further  research  reveals that it is often not as simple as changing  network, what appears to be happening is that many of the networks say they support wifi calling on a certain  model but if you dig down that often only applies if you buy the phone directly from them with thier own permissions set on the phone. Unless you have an Apple phone in which case apple won't let net sell them unless the wifi calling feature is enabled. 

Its a real shame that networks are using this as a ploy to limit functionality of a product on their network  unless you buy it from them, for example  I bought my g60s directly from motorola  not ebay or some shabby third party retailer, but again the wifi calling is not enabled. 

I am wondering if this a money supermarket or which issue, its just more people should be aware that you can buy a phone from a manufacturer but some networks disable some of its features unless you buy it directly from them,  im not saying Virgin do this deliberately but this also seems  to be the case with a lot of networks 

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Usually it's not that networks are actively blocking third party devices from working with WiFi Calling or disabling features, it's that for WiFi Calling to work on a device, then that WiFi Calling settings for that mobile network need to be in the device. WiFi Calling for Virgin Mobile has different settings than O2, EE, Vodafone or Three.

For Android, Mobile networks can only add these settings with manufacturers they have relationship with, which usually means the devices they directly sell. As Virgin Mobile don't sell Motorola devices, then WiFi Calling setting for Virgin Mobile aren't in the Motorola firmware. Even where it is added it will usually be for launch devices and later, and won't usually be backwards compatible into earlier devices.

Apple devices work differently to Android in that the Carrier Settings option that makes WiFi Calling work is available on all devices running the minimum iOS version for the WiFi Calling option so gets added to all iPhones that run that supported OS version.

[Jimbojohn55]

So Virgin Mobile are different to Virgin Media who do have a relationship with Motorola, and sell their products?

I am curious as how hard it would be to turn on wifi calling on all Amdroid phones that an provide that feature, is it a case of every phone would need its own carrier specific firmware or is it a feature that can be activated for specific phone manufacturers, I appreciate this may be more complex than it appears,

Thanks Jim