Is there a prepaid carrier with wifi calling?

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MrCrispy

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That will work with any unlocked phone (not just the special ones sold by the operator) ? e.g. wifi calling on TMobile only works with the special Nexus you have to buy from them.
 
There's two types of WiFi calling. The one you're describing from T-Mobile is an extra service they provide that uses a WiFi connection in lieu of a cellular tower connection so the calls are all done through the phone number assigned to you by T-Mobile.

The second type is basically just a VoIP service which is done independently by whichever app you use the feature on. May or may not have actual phone numbers available.

Don't expect the T-Mobile method on any unlocked phones, the VoIP style should theoretically work on any data connection you have access to.
 
I mean the first type, with automatic handoff to cellular if available. I have used VoIP/SIP calling before but really prefer to have everything integrated via the phone's dialer.

So you're saying no unlocked phone has real wifi calling? That's a real shame.
 
yep. Wifi calling will never be available on a unlocked/pure-aosp phone. the best and/or closest that you can get is by using google-voice with via hangouts (install the hangouts dials from the playstore)
 
You know.. if I recall correctly (or incorrectly), I thought my Blackberry Bold 9700 allowed me to do WiFi calling... I am pretty sure it did.
 
some blackberries, Windows Phone, and iPhones come by default with WiFI calling (for T-mobile)

but you can't do custom ROMs (well, maybe customized stock roms, but nothing built from source code) for any of those phones

unfortunately, you'll have to stick with T-mobile-branded (android) phones, or wait for other carriers to use iPhone wifi calling (and allow prepaid mnvos to use it as well). "Closest to stock" would probably be a sony phone (Z1s / upcoming Z3). you could unlcok the phone after you pay it off 100%

*you might be able to flash t-mobile ROM onto another sibling phone (the Verizon LG G2 comes to mind, but you dont get AWS 3G for that phone)
 
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Only phones purchased from Tmobile will support Wi-fi calling. The only phone that will work with out buying from Tmobile is the 5c/5s and newer
 
Domini said:
Only phones purchased from Tmobile will support Wi-fi calling. The only phone that will work with out buying from Tmobile is the 5c/5s and newer
Click to expand...

Nokia Lumia 925 and 521 both do, I haven't tested the 635, but I would think it would work as well. You don't have to purchase them from T-Mobile, just grab them from the Microsoft store, Amazon or Newegg.

I think Android L is supposed to have wifi calling built in, so that's when we may finally see some non-T-Mobile sold Android phones supporting it.
 
The Nokie 635 definitely has wifi-calling. I can confirm that.
 
Republic Wireless offers contract free plans that incorporate Wi-Fi + hand off to cellular. Republic will sell you these three phones that they configured to do this.

Moto X (1st Gen.) Moto G (1st Gen.) Moto E

https://republicwireless.com/info/plans/

$5 per month: Unlimited Talk / Text / Data (over WiFi)

$10 per month: Unlimited Talk/Text over WiFi + Cell, Umlimited data over WiFi.

$25 per month: Unlimited Talk/Text over WiFi + Cell, Umlimited data over WiFi + On-Network 3G

$40 per month: Unlimited Talk/Text over WiFi + Cell, Umlimited data over WiFi + On-Network 4G
 
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darkpark said:
yep. Wifi calling will never be available on a unlocked/pure-aosp phone. the best and/or closest that you can get is by using google-voice with via hangouts (install the hangouts dials from the playstore)
Click to expand...

I have an AT&T iPhone 5s that I got unlocked and have been using on T-Mobile as a pre-paid device. One of the big things that iOS 8 had included was baked in Wi-Fi calling. You have to enable it but now I can make calls and send texts from my Wi-Fi connection while I have absolutely 0 cell coverage.
 
Domini said:
Cool, was not aware they did wi-fi calling
Click to expand...

It was a pretty recent addition. I just dumped Sprint a couple weeks ago after 16 years and didn't hear a peep about the feature - I found out by looking at new phones on their website.
 
If you have VOIP for home, some of those services will do wi-fi calling from your mobile phone. the number will come up your home number, but leaves your existing phon plan alone.
 
This thread aroused my curiosity so I downloaded and installed the Vonage mobile app onto an unlocked Moto X to see how my T-Mobile $30 monthly prepaid plan (5G data / unlimited text /100 minutes) would react. With WiFi turned on I used Vonage and made a free outgoing test call to a friend of mine without T-mobile reducing my available minutes.

I then had my friend give me an incoming call and saw that T-mobile reduced my available minutes by the amount of time I spent on the phone speaking with him.

I haven't specifically asked any Vonage user to call me using their Vonage setup, so I can't tell whether or not T-mobile reduces available minutes when speaking with an incoming Vonage caller.
 
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