VoLTE on Samsung Galaxy S10e

[rbcam]

I received a text from PM today saying that my phone supports VoLTE. It's a Samsung Galaxy S10e running Android 12. 

According to some websites, there should be a switch under Settings > Connections > Mobile networks to turn VoLTE on and off. On my phone there is no such switch.

Is there a way for me to determine whether VoLTE is enabled on my phone?

Thanks

- richard

[rbcameron]

Hi, Jo

I don't think it has a VoLTE switch. I think it will automatically use VoLTE if the network offers it. I believe PM is deliberately not offering it to the S10e, or any Samsung phone older than S21.

- richard

[GreenMocha]

Hi Richard,

I have Samsung Galaxy S10e running Android 12 as well. I have tried your steps and couldn't find Volte either. Does this model has Volte switch?

Many thanks 

Jo

[dabr]

@joedf   Thanks for confirming and yes not really surprised.  I believe PM will have to enable VoLTE on their end to allow us to use it on our devices which I'm sure are compatible despite the misinformation from PM/Telus VoLTE compatibility checker.

[joedf]

@dabr @rbcam 

Sorry, I just tried it. Waited more than 5mins... No option for it... 😞

My s10e model is SM-G970W

[rbcam]

@dust2dust What make/model is your phone?

[dust2dust]

I see malice when it comes to corporations.

I got the not compatible text. Um, yes it is. So it's all lies.

[rbcam]

@dust2dust Don't assume it's malice - it could just be incompetence ;^)

Or, more generously, they may have decided to roll the feature out first to a small collection of recent devices running the latest version of Android/iOS. The list of devices on https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte is really pretty short!

Perhaps once they've worked through any problems with those devices they'll start provisioning older ones.

Unfortunate that they got our hopes up with that misleading text message, though.

- richard

[dust2dust]

Yup. Same result here. Sucks. A device perfectly able to use these services here and they are not allowing it for their own malicious reasons.

[rbcam]

@dust2dust Thanks for letting me know about this app.

On the first screen I see "Current device VoLTE Status: ACTIVE" (Hurray!)

Then I click "CLICK TO KNOW" and, on the PROCESS 1 page I click "OPEN PHONE INFORMATION"

The "VoLTE Provisioned" toggle is off and disabled.

From the 3-dot menu at upper right, I choose "IMS Service Status". 

I see:

- IMS Registration: Not registered

- Voice over LTE: Unavailable

- Voice over WiFi: Unavailable

- Video calling: Unavailable

- UT Interface: Unavailable

I imagine that "Current device VoLTE Status: ACTIVE" means VoLTE is enabled on the phone (which is what I suspected).

However, it's clear from the other info that PM has not provisioned IMS & VoLTE for me.

My current theory is that PM is artificially restricting VoLTE access to recent phones (S21 and newer) running Android 13. Sad!

Thanks again

- richard

[dust2dust]

Use the app called VoLTE Check. It's another way to see that dial code page and the IMS registration and provisioned services.

[rbcam]

@computergeek541 Thanks for that! Yes, the icon changes from LTE (or LTE+) to 4G when I make a call.

[rbcam]

@BKNS27 Does it look that way during a voice call, too?

[computergeek541]

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@rbcam wrote:

@BKNS27 Ah, interesting! 

Have you been able to determine whether VoLTE is actually working on your S9? You can't rely on the icon shown in the status bar while you're making a call. You have to go to Settings > About phone > Status information > SIM card status (assuming it's the same on the S9) and look at the value under "Mobile voice network type".

On my S10e, when I'm not in a call, I see LTE there. However, as soon as I make a call, it switches to UMTS.

Let me know what you find out

- richard

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While in a call, the network type icon is accurate. If it indicates LTE during a call, there's no need to look in the menus. The only confusing thing is how many Samsung devices say 4G when it's actually 3G/HSPA.  There's also the issue of an activate Wi-Fi connection hiding the network type indicator.  However, an LTE icon during a call means that VoLTE is fully workng and there would be nothing else to check.

[BKNS27]

@rbcam 

On the top of the screen it shows LTE+ and for Mobile Voice Network Type it is showing LTE.

 

 

[rbcam]

@BKNS27 Ah, interesting! 

Have you been able to determine whether VoLTE is actually working on your S9? You can't rely on the icon shown in the status bar while you're making a call. You have to go to Settings > About phone > Status information > SIM card status (assuming it's the same on the S9) and look at the value under "Mobile voice network type".

On my S10e, when I'm not in a call, I see LTE there. However, as soon as I make a call, it switches to UMTS.

Let me know what you find out

- richard

[BKNS27]

@rbcam 

That is strange because the latest update for my old Samsung S9 is OS 10 and I am in VoLTE.

[rbcam]

A little more info: it looks like all of the approved model/firmware combos for Samsung phones on the PM VoLTE page (https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte) are Android 13. So perhaps PM requires Android 13 for VoLTE (even though models like the S10e support VoLTE on Android 12).

[rbcam]

@Community_QA I honestly don't think I'm going to get any useful help from CS. As I said below, their latest response was "we don't know what's wrong, contact Samsung." Yeah, right, on both counts!

I won't really need VoLTE until/unless I take my phone to the States. I'm going to check it from time to time over the next few weeks, to see whether PM corrects the problem "spontaneously".

Cheers

- richard

[Community_QA]

let me know, my buddies has s10e, too. not sure if exact same model # or not

[dabr]

@rbcam   Interesting!  Yes, exact same model #.

Anyhow, you should ask to escalate your ticket to a supervisor since you've received SMS confirming your phone is compatible, which means all customers with S10e have compatible devices.  I've a feeling we might need to download a software update for this function to work..

[rbcam]

@dabr Yes, the text from PM said "Great news, your current device supports VoLTE".

Is your phone an S10e as well? Is the model number SM-G970W?

- r

[dabr]

@rbcam   That's interesting that the Telus VoLTE check confirms your phone is compatible as I got the opposite result on testing.

Did your text from PM say VoLTE was enabled on your account?  The text I received (twice, week apart) said VoLTE was enabled on "PM's network" but my device was incompatible.

As to responses from CS Agents, unfortunately, other customers have mentioned received confusing information when asking about this compatibility issue and it could be they are not as well informed as they should be (serious shortfall on lack of proper training from PM?)..   So not really surprised about that response, sadly...

[rbcam]

@dabr In their responses to my ticket, the CS agents have said that they can't determine whether VoLTE is enabled for my number (which is rather shocking). They said that the fact I received the text message indicates that it is enabled. They also pointed out that the S10e is not on the list of devices supported by PM for VoLTE. 

So maybe we have to wait for PM to decide to support VoLTE on the S10e. 

(BTW the Telus page where you can check whether your phone is capable of VoLTE says that mine is.)

[dabr]

@rbcam   Thanks for confirming, I did suspect it wouldn't make a difference and do think it's something PM needs to activate on the backend.  Will wait to see what happens as to what PM plans on doing and I'm certainly not planning on purchasing a newer phone anytime soon either.

[rbcam]

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@softech wrote:

@rbcam and the sim card info screen , does it show IS registration status??

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No, it doesn't. I haven't found a way to determine IMS registration status.  *#*#4636#*#* does not work for me. I get an audio message saying "sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialled".

[rbcam]

@dabr 

I have tried shutting down and removing the SIM for 5 minutes, as well as resetting network settings. Neither made a difference - VoLTE still doesn't work.

[softech]

@rbcam and the sim card info screen , does it show IS registration status??

[dabr]

@rbcam   yep, ditto!

[rbcam]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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If the LTE icon is shown during a phone call while WiFi is off, VoLTE is working (VoLTE still works with Wi-Fi turned on but your phone wont' tell you about it).  There are no further step that you need to take.

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Unfortunately, I don't think this is true. When I make a call with WiFi turned off, I see the status bar icon change from LTE+ to LTE, but "Mobile voice network type" in Settings > About phone > Status information > SIM card status changes from LTE to UMTS. This is the true test of whether VoLTE is working.

Cheers

- richard

[dabr]

@joedf   Please update if removing the SIM for 5 mins makes a difference, or not, to being able to get VoLTE on the S10e.