Wifi Calling and VoLTE on Samsung S8

[vmuser272727]

For those of you who still own a Samsung Galaxy S8, since VM introduced it, have you been able to get Wi-Fi Calling and 4G/VoLTE calling on your device?

Both work on EE but the S8 isn't on VM's supported list so presumably mileage will vary...

[JitteryPinger]

VoLTE has never worked on Virgin Mobile via EE due to agreement with Virgin and EE.

WiFi Calling probably won't work if Virgin don't want it too, or haven't enabled it to do so.

[enlli]

EE and Virgin are not the same. Virgin's adoption of  WiFi calling may be technologically different.

VoLTE cannot happen while they are on EE because it is carried on 800MHz 4G to which Virgin have no access.

VoLTE will happen on 5G accounts with the move to Vodafone 

[vmuser272727]

Yes, a good generalism for sure but it'd be good to get answers from S8 owners

[JitteryPinger]

It don't work, it won't work.

[vmuser272727]

A bit of additional Googling found this

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/mobile/wifi-and-4g-calling

So, unless the above is out of date, Matt, either you know something we don't or you're misinformed.

Other research suggests that on VM, WiFi calling is predicated on having a device running Android 10.

Again Samsung S8 owners' first hand experience is what I'm after here, not conjecture from non-owners.

[JitteryPinger]

The first paragraph in the linked support page states: We want to make sure you’re ready to use 4G Calling on our awesome 5G network

So 4G and WiFi calling is available on Virgin Media's 5G contracts which operate on Vodafone's network.

and in both sets of support device pages for 4G Calling and WiFi Calling the S8 is not listed.

I will also make you aware that a lot of networks do not support 4G Calling or WiFi Calling on devices not brought from the network and that may apply here too as it also stated on the support link All of these devices support 4G Calling if they are bought directly from us. If you are using a device that was bought from another network, or SIM free, we cannot guarantee that it will support our 4G Calling service.

I know personally that EE pretty much supplies all services it can to handsets but as it has been mentioned here already not all networks use the same methods to deliver these services and MVNO's (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) such as Virgin Media will not support features the host network (EE) do unless its part of the network leasing and sharing agreement of which both features above are not.

The WiFi Calling service from Virgin Mobile is a fairly new addition to the network made by Virgin themselves and separate from EE so probably isn't compatible with old generation devices.

4G calling may become available in the future however as Virgin move the rest of existing customers from EE to Vodafone's network but alas that is not due to happen until 2022, Only customers with 5G devices are getting these features as they are using Vodafone's network, they are crucial features for 5G to be able to receive calls, just like 3G is still crucial for Virgin's 4G because calls aren't transmitted using 4G

[enlli]

Yes, I've checked up and this is definitely for 5G Vodafone contracts. VoLTE has to work to make calls on 5G and to provide fallback to 4G as you move out of a 5G area. 5G calls will not fall back to standard 4G or 3G

[vmuser272727]

Interesting they are setting new customers up on Vodafone - didn't think that deal started til later this year.

[JitteryPinger]

No the BT/EE deal ends at the end of the year, moving people across is a long process and needs to be done in many stages to avoid a catastrophic problem.