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mellobob · ‎10-09-2018

Thinking of switching ... but there is no cell service here at home (thanks Telus!). So, I'd like to use the wifi calling feature many newer phones have. Telus, Koodo, Virgin, etc. support this. I'm sort of thinking that since PM is really Telus it should work ... but I'd like confirmation first.

thanks.

staffpro1 · ‎06-29-2023

ya sure you can justify it but for $5 more a month virgin offers 30 gb for $45... with wifi calling I didn't know this didn't have it and it's a deal breaker so I gotta switch out when the month is over I live rural where signal is not the greatest wifi fills it in nicely

softech · ‎06-29-2023

@staffpro1 as you know all Tier 3 provider (Lucky/Chatr/PM) currently do not provide Wifi Calling an Tier 3 providers only provide basic service for discounted price. I don't think any of them will be offering this feature soon

staffpro1 · ‎06-29-2023

any chance they add wifi calling since it works on koodo and telus... and fido and virgin

softech · ‎09-02-2021

@bradyhanna no firm confirmation from Telus yet. Last Telus update on Twitter was an hour ago, still saying working on it. But seems like some part of Vancouver has the service back already. Where you are at??

JK8 · ‎09-02-2021

@bradyhanna wrote:
Has this changed at all? I was on a trip, and was unable to make any calls because I only had Wifi.

They are still working on it. Some customers have received some of their services back. Reboot your phone.

bradyhanna · ‎09-02-2021

Has this changed at all? I was on a trip, and was unable to make any calls because I only had Wifi.

Superdubb · ‎02-27-2019

This is Fido's Wifi-calling policy: https://www.fido.ca/consumer/content/wifi-calling

Superdubb · ‎02-27-2019

I guess it depends on the carrier whether wifi-calling internationally is supported or not. Fido supports it(because it works for me). The following thread says that Telus blocks it

See here:

https://forum.telus.com/t5/Mobility-Services/Wi-Fi-Calling-Can-you-use-it-outside-Canada/td-p/80086

sheytoon · ‎02-27-2019

@srlawren wrote:
@mellobob at most providers, Wi-Fi calling is treated exactly like any other call in terms of billing. What carrier are you with where Wi-Fi calling doesn't cost you anything while roaming? I'm pretty sure most would consider that a roaming call. @sheytoon do you know if that's right?

I'm not sure how they are billing it today, but I think operators can decide how to bill Wi-Fi calls made from international IP addresses.

srlawren · ‎02-25-2019

@Superdubb not sure how it works at Fido, but here's what Koodo says about Wi-Fi calling and billing: (https://www.koodomobile.com/help/wifi-calling)

"Billing Details

Wi-Fi calling doesn’t add any costs to your bill. Wi-Fi calls and messages are treated the same as cellular calls or messages, meaning you won’t pay a cent more than you already do for your Koodo plan. Also, there is no charge to use Wi-Fi Calling for a Canadian long distance call.

Here are some details of how Wi-Fi Calling is billed:

Local calls: these calls will be deducted from your monthly voice allowance and any overage will be rated according to your plan
Canada calls (domestic long distance): you will not be charged long distance
USA or international long distance calls: customer will be billed at their plan’s standard international long distance rate

Note: Wi-Fi calling will not use up data from your Koodo wireless plan. However, it does use data from the Wi-Fi Internet access point."

They haven't mentioned roaming specifically but the implication is that it's treated like a standard call (other than domestic long distance).

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NotMe · ‎02-25-2019

@Superdubb wrote:
@mellobob I'm with Fido currently and I've travelled to Thailand and the US and used Wi-Fi calling. I was not charged LD/Roaming charges. It makes sense. If you're using Wifi in a foreign country, why should Fido charge? A customer should only be charged if they are using services. IN the case of WiFi calling, Fido is not providing any extra services. They are not the ones providing the wifi service in a foreign country.

Fair points but knowing companies they will charge for whatever they possibly can. Technically speaking once the call reaches it's destination country / calling area it gets put back onto their network (and even before that it's on their systems really) so you're still using their service. It's just entering the system at a different point.

Superdubb · ‎02-25-2019

@mellobob I'm with Fido currently and I've travelled to Thailand and the US and used Wi-Fi calling. I was not charged LD/Roaming charges. It makes sense. If you're using Wifi in a foreign country, why should Fido charge? A customer should only be charged if they are using services. IN the case of WiFi calling, Fido is not providing any extra services. They are not the ones providing the wifi service in a foreign country.

NotMe · ‎02-25-2019

@mellobob at most providers, Wi-Fi calling is treated exactly like any other call in terms of billing. What carrier are you with where Wi-Fi calling doesn't cost you anything while roaming? I'm pretty sure most would consider that a roaming call.

If I recall correctly I also used WiFi calling (Rogers) as a workaround for being out of country. I believe I confirmed it with support before I left, shut off my cellular while out of country, made / recieved calls and didn't get any additional charges.

Techinically speaking the problem with trying to track / bill WiFi calling is that your IP address does not reliabely indicate your location. VPNs are an example and would cause a biling nightmare if you made WiFi calls while connected to a VPN which gave you an IP address out of country.

Could be some workarounds on the technical side like trying to determine your actual location based on cell towers, etc but that might be more hassle than it's worth and not possible if cellular is disabled. Probably just easier for them to not worry about the very small % of customer that would use it to skirt around roaming vs dealing with all the technical / billing challenges.

srlawren · ‎02-25-2019

@mellobob wrote:
Isn't wifi calling one of the reasons Telus, etc have installed all those modems in restaurants, church halls, malls, etc.?

@mellobob probably, but currently only for 1st tier (Telus) and 2nd tier (Koodo) customers, whom purchased devices specifically on Telus/Koodo's list of approved devices, and generally only when those devices were purchased through Telus/Koodo (vs. from another provider, or direct from the manufacturer). People are paying more to use Telus (and to a lesser extent, Kodoo) and thus they get access to more features like this (and VoLTE, Visual Voicemail, international roaming, hardware purchases with or without tab, etc.)

@Superdubb wrote:
Hi there. I actually have a different use case with Wi-Fi calling. When I travel abroad, and Wifi calling is enabled, people from home can call me on my local phone number and I can place local(Vancouver area) and receive calls abroad as if I'm local. This not only saves me money, it also saves me hassle from informing anybody and allows people calling me to call me seamlessly.

@mellobob at most providers, Wi-Fi calling is treated exactly like any other call in terms of billing. What carrier are you with where Wi-Fi calling doesn't cost you anything while roaming? I'm pretty sure most would consider that a roaming call. @sheytoon do you know if that's right?

@Superdubb wrote:

If PM enables this feature, I'm signing up! Please!

@Superdubb sorry to say, I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting if I were you.

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NotMe · ‎02-25-2019

I would also love to see WiFi calling for a whole variety of reasons listed. There was several use cases outside of a poor cellular connection. Call quality I find is greatly improved on top of all that.

Update: Seems the request (idea) has been submitted several times and always marked as "not for us" thus it's very unlikely it will be implemented. I agree with previous comments about PM being "no frills" (hence the cheap prices) thus unlikely to add this kind of feature.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_pu...

Superdubb · ‎02-22-2019

Hi there. I actually have a different use case with Wi-Fi calling. When I travel abroad, and Wifi calling is enabled, people from home can call me on my local phone number and I can place local(Vancouver area) and receive calls abroad as if I'm local. This not only saves me money, it also saves me hassle from informing anybody and allows people calling me to call me seamlessly.

To make it even more seamless for me, I carry a portable LTE-Wifi hotspot abroad broadcasting wifi, which allows me to be completely mobile abroad and have wifi access everywhere to place and receive calls.

If PM enables this feature, I'm signing up! Please!

mellobob · ‎02-22-2019

Isn't wifi calling one of the reasons Telus, etc have installed all those modems in restaurants, church halls, malls, etc.?

cavemantoronto · ‎02-22-2019

@Superdubb wrote:
Completely agree. please public Mobile, I would love this feature!

Wifi calling would be nice, but I don't think most people need it. If the network is good, importance of this feature goes down.

Superdubb · ‎02-21-2019

Completely agree. please public Mobile, I would love this feature!

mellobob · ‎10-30-2018

Yes, you are 100% correct. Lower mainland (Vancouver, etc) is all in 604. Most of the interior and Van. Island is 250. I think there 2 overlay area codes as well.

I understand that to port into local numbers some kind of hardware "port" is needed in the local office and no one is ready to invest that kind of $ for a smaller community. I assume that since cell coverage is being so pervasive the demand for local ports is becoming less and less.

stonechucker · ‎10-30-2018

@mellobob,

Looking quickly at this, the BC area codes seem to be very complicated, as 236 and 778 seem to overlap into areas with other area codes specifically for a subset of the geographic coverage. Very strange!

I believe Creston is outside the 604 area that you've been suggested by VoIP providers, which wouldn't work as it's not in a local calling pattern. I would imagine that the size of Creston is too small to get a VoIP number. And other areas around you may also fall into that category.

As I mention - this is just a quick look - I don't have time to dig further. Good luck with any solution you can find.

mellobob · ‎10-30-2018

SUDO: again, I could not find a number in my area.

Note to helper ... and I really, really, really do appreciate all the help! ... I live in the Creston BC area. I have yet to find ANY VOIP carriers with ports in my area.

My next try will be a mast and cell booster. I need to talk to a few neigbours here and see if any of them have gotten this working. On my moto phones I can get 1 bar signal on my roof with the signal apps showing around -110db strength. "Experts" I've chatted with tell me that boosting this will result in pretty crappy quality. I'll probably end up with my Telus landline for a long time in the future!

mellobob · ‎10-30-2018

Just tried textnow. It might even be useable ... but, when I told it my prefix was 250 it dutyfully returned a 604 phone number. And all 604 numbers are LD from my area. Oh well 🙂

Murco · ‎10-29-2018

Sudo will give you a local number.

krazykiwi · ‎10-29-2018

@mellobob wrote:
Thanks. The problem I see with all suggestions like Skype, Fongo, etc. is that folks who want to call me need to do something special ... none of the VOIP solutions will give a local (not-long-distance) phone number in my area. I was hoping that with something like wifi calling I'd be able to give people my cell number (which is local) and then it would just work.

I would need to get a more up-to-date phone, but that is minor (and a great excuse to get a more-up-to-date phone!).

Oh well ....

Textnow let me choose a local number and people calling do not have to do anything special. The ads can be annoying if you don't pay for it though.

mellobob · ‎10-29-2018

Thanks. The problem I see with all suggestions like Skype, Fongo, etc. is that folks who want to call me need to do something special ... none of the VOIP solutions will give a local (not-long-distance) phone number in my area. I was hoping that with something like wifi calling I'd be able to give people my cell number (which is local) and then it would just work.

I would need to get a more up-to-date phone, but that is minor (and a great excuse to get a more-up-to-date phone!).

Oh well ....

donm · ‎10-29-2018

Skype

mellobob · ‎10-09-2018

Thanks. I understand it's the same network. Just need a decent voice/data plan. The $40/month will suit me fine. Just a pity about the no wifi calling ... but it saves me having to get a new phone (that's actually sad, but don't tell my wife!).

will13am · ‎10-09-2018

@mellobob wrote:
Sounds great. I placed an order for a SIM card earlier today. Don't know how long Canada Post will want to store it ... but I should be able to activate it next week. Just hope the unlimited/4.5 gig plan is still available then 🙂

@mellobob, this plan has been around at this price for some time. Unless the competition raises their price, Public Mobile will not do so either. You mentioned using PC mobile for prepaid. That is the same Bellus network that Public Mobile runs on. I don't think you are going to get any real difference in coverage.

mellobob · ‎10-09-2018

Sounds great. I placed an order for a SIM card earlier today. Don't know how long Canada Post will want to store it ... but I should be able to activate it next week. Just hope the unlimited/4.5 gig plan is still available then 🙂