VoLTE on 3G plan

[LitlLdy]

I have my iPhone data turned on, it is set on LTE, WiFi is turned off. I reset network settings, rebooted my iPhone, turned phone back off, removed sim card for a few minutes, put sim card back in phone & turned phone back on then tried calls again yet VoLTE still does not work! Calls drop to 3G when making calls!

CSA’s said that VoLTE is activated on my account but I was told by more than 1 CSA that it won’t work due to I don’t have a 4G phone plan!

Edited: For clearer explanation!

Edit: Update, March 20, 2023: 

My phone is an iPhone 6s. I just received another message from a CSA saying:

“Public Mobile here we received a ticket # for calls dropping from LTE to 3G unfortunately only IPhone 8 and up are supposed for Volte on our network, so your calls will show 3G. Thank you.”

So, even though my iPhone 6s worked for VoLTE with Rogers it is not compatible to work for VoLTE with Public Mobile yet was confirmed from Telus that this phone will work on the TELUS VoLTE network! 😕

Edit: Update, March 20, 4:10pm:

From a CSA: 

I checked the resolution of the ticket submitted to the technical team. VoLTE on iPhone 6s works on Telus postpaid and Koodo prepaid and postpaid but not on Public Mobile.

Public Mobile supports newer models (iPhone 8 and newer) for VoLTE. So if in the future you'll upgrade the phone, make sure to choose a model that supports VoLTE on our network.

I remain at your disposal.

Respectfully yours,
CS_Agent

Edit: Update: March 21, 12pm: I received a text message to my phone from Diane from Tech Support for information & troubleshooting. My call forwarding is now fixed!
Also, trying a new iPhone 14 Pro. My phone now stays on LTE when making calls even though it doesn’t say VoLTE on it! So, as many of you said…. I did not need a 3G phone plan for VoLTE to work for phone calls! Hmmm 🙄

[LitlLdy]

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@beabea wrote:

Same here. I am on my possible 3rd upgrade in 4 months. Public Mobile does not have anything stating that I need a VoLTE compatible phone on its site. My latest phone was working fine for ~3 months, but now the choppiest calls ever. Telus is saying, Upgrade. Again. 

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@beabea , You don’t need a VoLTE compatible phone yet for your service to work with Public Mobile.

Have you reset network settings, turned phone back off, removed sim card for 20 minutes, put sim card back in phone & turned phone back on then tried calls again?

Are you using 3G for Voice & Data or LTE?

What phone are you currently using?

We need more info please & what troubleshooting you have tried so we can try to help you.

Also, have you created a support ticket to a Public Mobile CSA (Not Telus)? If not submit a support ticket & ask for a Senior CSA (which a Senior CSA will give you more correct information on this issue & better support).

[softech]

@beabea   no, at the moment, you don't need a VoLTE compatible phone to make calls,   You might need one closer to end of 2025, but not now

So, give us some background, what was your issue?  voice problem? what phone are you using?

[beabea]

Same here. I am on my possible 3rd upgrade in 4 months. Public Mobile does not have anything stating that I need a VoLTE compatible phone on its site. My latest phone was working fine for ~3 months, but now the choppiest calls ever. Telus is saying, Upgrade. Again. 

[wetcoaster]

@dust2dust 

I'm coming back to your posts here in the hope that the next one is: "It's finally working!" 

And again I leave shaking my head at the inconsistency around here.

Hey, great that PM is offering VoLTE. But it's just another messy situation where the left doesn't know what the right does and every front line employee is making up their own twist of the story.

[dust2dust]

@sheytoon- If a phone is not able to use volte then I agree. My phone can use volte. I got the text saying my phone is not compatible. This is clearly false and misleading. Or it clearly shows that they're being maliciously selective. Which being a corporate cynic I'm more inclined to believe.

[softech]

thanks @sheytoon for confirming.  So, I guess it is not always the carriers blocking us 

[sheytoon]

I know but it's the phone manufacturer who isn't putting in the effort to provide a software update to enable VoLTE for PM SIM cards. Telus has no restrictions on their side and would prefer all manufacturers enable VoLTE.

[dust2dust]

I'm in Mexico with my Red Pocket sim. Poof, volte shows up again. And vowifi. Red Pocket doesn't roam here either but it connected to Telcel and I can call with vowifi.

I can put the sim in at home too and get the same result but I run 2 Public accounts on my dual sim phone.

Adding - spoke too soon. It would appear I can in fact call Canada with no internet not using vowifi. I thought I tried earlier. I'm rather surprised. Or not. It's also on 3G on Telcel. I've had 2 failed tests and one got through.

Adding- no I've tried more and no.

@sheytoon- you're using some keywords ie. enabled. My phone works on volte. They will not enable it. That's being selective. I 100% agree that it would be more work to maintain a select list than to just have people not having volte-able devices.

[sheytoon]

@dust2dust 

FWIW, I would take that response with a grain of salt. In my experience, it's more work for operators to maintain approved lists of devices.

The only reason I see for not getting VoLTE enabled on really old devices (iPhone 6s, etc) is development effort from the phone manufacturer to release a new patch. Other than that, I expect all new ish devices that are VoLTE enabled on Telus to also be VoLTE enabled on PM.

[LitlLdy]

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@dust2dust wrote:

Wow. Telus/Public are obviously up to no good seeing that a lot of postings about volte have been scrubbed.

So I had a long back and forth in texting with an internal agent yesterday and it became completely apparent that Telus/Public are being selective on what devices will get volte enabled. Not that they're compatible. Not that they would work. Simply at their whim. The person even said that if devices somehow manage to be working now, that blocking those devices may occur in the future.

Quote: It is a choice that Public Mobile and its parent companies have made, not a technical issue. End quote.

I guess we'll see how long this post stays up.

I have asked to escalate. We'll see what if anything comes of it.

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@dust2dust , thanks for the update. I’ve been waiting for this post to disappear. Sometimes being to honest & sharing to much info can kick me in the butt!

Edit: I knew they were deliberately being selective on which devices will work for VoLTE on their network. Especially when pushing to buy phones they’re selling! It was bad enough when they keep trying to convince customers that they’re 3G phone plans won’t work for VoLTE which is a lie yet push to switch to 4G phone plans! How can so many PM employees not all have the same knowledge?

[dust2dust]

Wow. Telus/Public are obviously up to no good seeing that a lot of postings about volte have been scrubbed.

So I had a long back and forth in texting with an internal agent yesterday and it became completely apparent that Telus/Public are being selective on what devices will get volte enabled. Not that they're compatible. Not that they would work. Simply at their whim. The person even said that if devices somehow manage to be working now, that blocking those devices may occur in the future.

Quote: It is a choice that Public Mobile and its parent companies have made, not a technical issue. End quote.

I guess we'll see how long this post stays up.

I have asked to escalate. We'll see what if anything comes of it.

[LitlLdy]

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@J_PM wrote:

@LitlLdy 

We have noticed a number of posts looking to verify VoLTE support information. To confirm, VoLTE can be enabled on both 4G and 3G plans. 

To learn more about VoLTE with Public Mobile visit this article for more information. 

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@J_PM , thank you for stating that. Thats what I thought but 3 CSA Employees (Daniel, Luis, Edmund) kept stating that it will not work on 3G phone plans! Kept telling me I need to upgrade to a 4G Phone plan for VoLTE to work! Which I kept telling them that several Customers including several which are Oracle's here are on 3G phone plans & VoLTE works! They still continued to argue with me repeating themselves saying it will not work! Well, even I know that’s not true due to I am on a 3G phone plan using VoLTE just fine! Theres many CSA’s with lack off training/trained incorrectly in many areas that refuse to learn & keep spreading & pushing incorrect information! It causes Customers to leave, feel unheard, feel unimportant!

You chiming in on posts means a lot. It helps to feel heard. Thank you!

[dust2dust]

Thank you for confirming that @J_PM . We have seen a number of people saying that support said that plans needed to be 4G speed plans. The company really needs to make sure all of these kinds of new information are distributed to all support people so that confusing misinformation which could easily cause people to make unnecessary erroneous decision on their account are avoided.

Next is, why are some devices that are capable of volte not being set up for volte here? Like me getting a response back from support talking about bands (check), frequencies (check) and codecs...I have yet to receive information about which codecs are being used by Public so that I can verify whether my phone has them. My phone works on volte on a US MVNO service that runs on T-Mobile who as we know are the roaming partner of Public. My phone should work here.

[J_PM]

@LitlLdy 

We have noticed a number of posts looking to verify VoLTE support information. To confirm, VoLTE can be enabled on both 4G and 3G plans. 

To learn more about VoLTE with Public Mobile visit this article for more information. 

[dust2dust]

Thanks @gpixel . I have Mediatek. I had changed my firmware last year to India which inadvertently fixed my problem from last year.

The phone works for volte (and even vowifi) when an enabled sim is put in. I'm just pushing to get this place to enable it for here. I'm pushing against their claim of codecs. uh huh. I'm still suspicious that they're intentionally filtering/whitelisting.

[gpixel]

@dust2dust 

I read this on a forum

"When it is come to Samsung Devices, firmware distribution is little different. It has multiple Parts like PD, CSC and two other. All region settings are in CSC which also has VOLTe Specific Ones.

Now I am going to tell a Good News! You can make your device to work VOLTe in your country without voiding warranty with simple steps as long as Ur phone processor is Exynos (International). No US Models. Usually Model Number end with either F or FD. ( NOT SUPPORTED Models P,V,U etc these are based on Snapdragon)"

[wetcoaster]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@wetcoaster wrote:

Soooo, the question remains: Are only the phones on the list whitelisted for VoLTE roaming? I guess we will need people with a unlisted device report back after a trip across the border?

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Some phones that weren't sold by Telus (including some Umidigi devices) have been functioning on Public Mobile with VoLTE, but I have herad of some cases of VoLTE working one day on these devices but not working on another. In addition, the compatibility list in the help article isn't complete (even for Telus devices).

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Thanks for taking the time... But:

The keyword was "roaming" - I know that my Umidigi Bison has been rock-solid on VoLTE for the past week, domestic use only though.

This is also more on "aquiring knowledge" basis, I have no trip plans to the US in the foreseeable future. 

[dust2dust]

Thank you @Nezgar . I can find one non-Samsung spec sheet that mentions these codecs. My phone has them. I'm currently trying to extract these details out of Samsung. Then I will report back to support who are claiming something about my phone is not compatible. The only thing I'm not sure of is codecs. My suspicion is that they're whitelisting/filtering on their own whim. Which would suck. The phone works on volte.

Adding - thank you @sheytoon . I'm so far pretty choked at Public support for saying the phone is not compatible. It is. So what shenanigans are they getting up to.

[sheytoon]

I actually don't know for sure, but I think it depends on phone support. AMR-NB and AMR-WB should be supported as @Nezgar mentioned, and possibly EVS on VoLTE as well.

[Nezgar]

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@dust2dust wrote:

@sheytoon- Could you please provide details as to which codec the volte here uses? I have the bands, I have the frequencies, I believe I have the codecs as the phone works for volte with a US provider that uses T-Mobile.

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I can answer that. 🙂 Public Mobile uses AMR-NB (NarrowBand) and AMR-WB (WideBand) no matter whether you're using 3G/WCDMA/HSPA calling or VoLTE calling.

AMR-WB would only be used when calling between two Telus Mobility/Koodo/Public mobile customers, everything else would be AMR-NB.

If AMR-NB seems to sound better on VoLTE vs WCDMA/HSPA, it would just be up to wireless network quality in your area. It's much more likely that VoLTE will have a better signal quality, and less likely to drop packets/have errors which could cause garbling or dropouts in the audio stream.

Either of these compared to the previous 2G GSM calling while roaming in the USA on T-Mobile since the 3G shut down will be much more pronounced - 2G GSM has very poor audio quality compared to AMR-NB.

VoLTE while USA roaming on T-Mobile should have just as good audio quality as 3G or VoLTE calls as when in Canada.

[dust2dust]

@sheytoon- Could you please provide details as to which codec the volte here uses? I have the bands, I have the frequencies, I believe I have the codecs as the phone works for volte with a US provider that uses T-Mobile.

[sheytoon]

I wouldn't worry about it. VoLTE is mostly a core feature, if it works on PM in Canada, it should work when roaming is the US.

[computergeek541]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

Soooo, the question remains: Are only the phones on the list whitelisted for VoLTE roaming? I guess we will need people with a unlisted device report back after a trip across the border?

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Some phones that weren't sold by Telus (including some Umidigi devices) have been functioning on Public Mobile with VoLTE, but I have herad of some cases of VoLTE working one day on these devices but not working on another. In addition, the compatibility list in the help article isn't complete (even for Telus devices).

[wetcoaster]

Just got that text on my mainline as well, after a week of already using LTE: 

Public Mobile here! We've enabled VoLTE (Voice over Long-term Evolution) on our network.
To enjoy uninterrupted voice services while roaming in the U.S., a VoLTE capable device and a VoLTE enabled network are required.
Your current device does not support VoLTE. Visit https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/phone-section#phone-start to purchase a compatible device. VoLTE capability is called out under "Phone Details > Check out the specs".
Learn more about VoLTE here publicmobile.ca/get-help/articles/volte
Reply STOP if you no longer wish to hear about Public Mobile updates.

[full copy / paste, my formatting]

Another example of poor wording. Clearly my Umidigi phone is LTE capable. It's just not on that list of "supported phones" (= phones sold by theTelus group).

Soooo, the question remains: Are only the phones on the list whitelisted for VoLTE roaming? I guess we will need people with a unlisted device report back after a trip across the border?

Right now it just looks like an upsell text to me.

[LitlLdy]

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@XionBunny wrote:

An update, I reached out tonight to the senior tech team with an in depth report of my provisioning issue requesting only the senior team look at the issue and I'm now happy to say I can call on the LTE network and volte is working properly, hats off to the senior agent team their work is stellar and efficient.

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@XionBunny , yahhhh, thank you for the update. I’m happy you did it that way!
My call qualify is much better! It was getting pretty bad before if I received the calls at all which happened often! We will see how this goes.

Edit: Its frustrating how many CSA’s tried to push me to get a 4G data phone plan saying VoLTE won’t work on 3G data phone plans! I’m so glad I listened to many people on here saying it wasn’t true & some know from their own experiences! This is what I love about people sharing their experiences & frustrations on here so we all can learn from each other! 💕

[XionBunny]

The google pixel 6 128gb version, with the latest android 13 build and march patches. 

Added for clarity: both the pro and non pro versions are officially supported here as per the help article.

[softech]

@XionBunny great news

Whar phone you have for VoLTE?

[XionBunny]

An update, I reached out tonight to the senior tech team with an in depth report of my provisioning issue requesting only the senior team look at the issue and I'm now happy to say I can call on the LTE network and volte is working properly, hats off to the senior agent team their work is stellar and efficient.

[sheytoon]

That's good to hear. iPhones don't have a VoLTE icon, so that is normal.

If it's still not working on your iphone 6s, I would be inclined to believe Telus on this. They have different carrier bundles from Apple for different operators (including virtual operators like PM and Koodo). It could be as simple as not wanting to invest effort on a new carrier bundle for an old device.

[XionBunny]

Yea it makes the quality of the concept suffer quite heavily.