VoLTE on Unbranded Lumia 950XL DS

[slyronit]

Hello,
I have a Lumia 950XL Dual SIM, India CV. We will have our first VoLTE supporting carrier launching its service in a couple of months.

The phone doesn't mention VoLTE anywhere. Does it even support VoLTE? I read on some other forums that only carrier branded Lumia handsets support VoLTE and only on that particular carrier.

I doubt this is a technical restriction, as unbranded iPhones and Android phones allow you to use VoLTE.

Has anyone ever had any luck using VoLTE on unbranded Lumia 950/XLs?

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I think it should work as long as the carrier frequency is supported by the phone

Does Lumia 950 xl supports VoLTE? - Microsoft Community..

Lumia 950 & 950 XL support VoLTE & VoWiFi. Lumia 550 too has VoLTE support.

How to use Wifi calling and Voice recording on the Lumia 950 XL - MSPoweruser

 

[slyronit]

I think it should work as long as the carrier frequency is supported by the phone

How to use Wifi calling and Voice recording on the Lumia 950 XL - MSPoweruser

I am afraid it is not that simple. Compatibility with LTE bands does not guarantee VoLTE support. What concerns me is that the Indian CV doesn't have LTE mentioned anywhere in settings.

Thanks for the links, I had a look at them, they all refer to the US version, the India 950XL page doesn't have VoLTE mentioned anywhere.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

I am afraid it is not that simple. Compatibility with LTE bands does not guarantee VoLTE support. What concerns me is that the Indian CV doesn't have LTE mentioned anywhere in settings.

Thanks for the links, I had a look at them, they all refer to the US version, the India 950XL page doesn't have VoLTE mentioned anywhere.

then I suggest you talk with your carrier about the VoLTE and see if your phone will be able to access it

 

[Allen Rhodes]

Typically features like that are specific to carrier branded phones. I know that around the world, buying your own phone is the norm. Here in the states, I have a 950xl dual sim running on AT&T on both sims. Not a chance in hell I ever get that feature, even though the phone and carrier are capable.

 

[slyronit]

then I suggest you talk with your carrier about the VoLTE and see if your phone will be able to access it

I did (Reliance Jio, India). Typical customer care answers. Some people say only Jio branded phones would be able to use VoLTE, some say any VoLTE enabled phone should be able to access VoLTE. My problem is, the 950XL doesn't have the option to turn on VoLTE anywhere (The iPhones, Xiaomi Mi5, Galaxy S6 do have that option and they are all unbranded, too).

I think that the India CV version just doesn't have LTE enabled in software.

 

[slyronit]

Typically features like that are specific to carrier branded phones. I know that around the world, buying your own phone is the norm. Here in the states, I have a 950xl dual sim running on AT&T on both sims. Not a chance in hell I ever get that feature, even though the phone and carrier are capable.

Thanks for confirming. So your unlocked 950XL on AT&T cannot make VoLTE calls? Do you know if an AT&T 950XL can?

 

[slyronit]

I found an official Answer from MS somewhere, not good news

The official statement is:
"If the customer gets a device that is branded for a WiFi Calling enabled operator then yes. If it is an open market device then no."


Since the phone you purchased was on open market device and not branded by a operator that supports Wifi Calling then Wifi calling (and VoLTE) will not light up on your phone.


I know this isn't the answer you were looking for. Hopefully it clarifies things.

 

[TitanChandu]

the unlocked 950XL dual sim sold in India is fully LTE compatible and I have been using it on Airtel for sometime now. I also used it in singapore on singtel and it worked fine.
VoLTE, I do not know, i have a One Plus One and it too does not show any option for VoLTE, maybe this is an option that gets enabled when connected to a SIM of an operator that has it... I dont know.

 

[slyronit]

the unlocked 950XL dual sim sold in India is fully LTE compatible and I have been using it on Airtel for sometime now. I also used it in singapore on singtel and it worked fine.
VoLTE, I do not know, i have a One Plus One and it too does not show any option for VoLTE, maybe this is an option that gets enabled when connected to a SIM of an operator that has it... I dont know.

LTE has never been a problem, unless you're dealing with a US carrier. VoLTE is going to be a problem, it seems.

 

[PGrey]

Thanks for confirming. So your unlocked 950XL on AT&T cannot make VoLTE calls? Do you know if an AT&T 950XL can?

I'm in the same boat. The 950 (AT&T branded model) can make VoLTE calls, but they won't provision the 950XL (no carrier ever sold the 950XL in the US).

I sort of thought T-Mobile would support this for awhile (they do on an Alcatel W10m phone, and some unbranded Android models), but it's not looking like it, at least in the near-term.
I'm more interested in WiFi calling, but you really can't have one without the other (I use the Viber VOIP implementation sometimes, when I don't have service).

 

[PGrey]

I'm still searching for a solution for this, out there, somewhere ;-]
Winter is fast approaching, and I don't want to have a second line, to have connectivity again, when WiFi call/text would allow my 950XL to function just fine.

I was thinking about the "official" paraphrase above, and it seems odd, why does MS advertise the dual-SIM 950XL as being fully WiFi calling capable, if there's no way to actually use it?
It seems a bit odd, like saying, here's this cool new radio we're putting into your BMW, but currently there's not a single station that broadcasts for it, nifty, eh? ;-]

 

[tsax6010]

I was thinking about the "official" paraphrase above, and it seems odd, why does MS advertise the dual-SIM 950XL as being fully WiFi calling capable, if there's no way to actually use it?
It seems a bit odd, like saying, here's this cool new radio we're putting into your BMW, but currently there's not a single station that broadcasts for it, nifty, eh? ;-]

While I lament the loss of functionality on my own 950XL on AT&T, I do not agree that it is odd or wrong of MS in any way to advertise functionality that the phone is perfectly capable of performing. I do however think that AT&T's policies towards BYOD leans towards the class action lawsuit side of things and should be reviewed by the FCC.

The phone is carrier unbranded and these features are carrier specific. From Microsoft's standpoint they included the functionality and thus can advertise it as such. It is not their fault that AT&T are asshats when it comes to supporting unbranded devices. I have heard of people with the 950XL in other countries using VoLTE and/or Wifi calling on their carriers with no problems.

 

[PGrey]

While I lament the loss of functionality on my own 950XL on AT&T, I do not agree that it is odd or wrong of MS in any way to advertise functionality that the phone is perfectly capable of performing. I do however think that AT&T's policies towards BYOD leans towards the class action lawsuit side of things and should be reviewed by the FCC.

The phone is carrier unbranded and these features are carrier specific. From Microsoft's standpoint they included the functionality and thus can advertise it as such. It is not their fault that AT&T are asshats when it comes to supporting unbranded devices. I have heard of people with the 950XL in other countries using VoLTE and/or Wifi calling on their carriers with no problems.

It's not just AT&T though, it's pretty much any carrier (in the US), T-Mobile is saying the same, they're claiming MS never completed "certification" with them.

I don't think you'll hear of any others with a dual-SIM Win10m phone using VoLTE, I think this isn't finished, on the MS side, but I could be wrong.
Does anyone know for sure this works with a dual-SIM Win Phone? I know I saw someone post about it NOT working, in India.

I agree, that somehow the carriers (mostly AT&T here) need some "leverage" to get behind this, particularly since they're trending towards LTE-only implementations moving forward, so without VoLTE, you might have a really strong signal, but not voice capability.
This is sort of the way it is at my house, I have screaming fast data on Band 17, but my voice (I think it's band 4, I'd have to go back and check) is really iffy, drops all the time, etc. If I had VoLTE, or WiFi Calling, I would have voice just fine.

Does anyone want to start an FCC complaint? I'm a bit tenuous, because I work on the AT&T forums, as one of their MVP types, so I have to "tread a bit carefully".
I agree, I'm pretty "annoyed" with their policy, they always say "branded only" but then run and hide if I mention the iOS thing, apparently they don't want to discuss that, because it's completely outside of the model.

 

[slyronit]

In my case, it is definitely MS's fault. My provider supports VoLTE on all capable phones, but the 950XL DS is not VoLTE capable. the Single SIM version supports VoLTE if you flash certain ROMs (UK EE), but you can't use that with Dual SIM. Shame.

 

[vishalrao]

Maybe it's JIO's fault? :grincry: Have you tried triggering "carrier update" (in the Mobile/SIM settings, there are a couple of places I think) or calling their customer care and asking them if they can "push" the carrier settings to your phone?

From the MS specs page here https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...l-dual-sim%2Fspecifications%2F&token=j0m88iVM

It lists "HD Voice Calling" feature under the Call Management section - could this be the same as VoLTE feature?

 

[vishalrao]

The wikipedia page lists 950XL (but not DS) too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_LTE#Devices

 

[PGrey]

From the MS specs page here https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...l-dual-sim%2Fspecifications%2F&token=iPp7N0PE

It lists "HD Voice Calling" feature under the Call Management section - could this be the same as VoLTE feature?

It' also lists "Wi-Fi: MIMO, Wi-Fi call,...", this is a cut-paste from the specs link above, the MS specs page. Clearly they're saying it's capable, or someone's not telling the truth, good luck figuring out who...

 

[slyronit]

Yes and no. HD Voice is a different codec use for better voice quality. in the US, HD Voice is VoLTE (Just like HSDPA+ is 4G and LTE is LTE). Confusing.

Not Jio's fault. I asked them, at this stage they don't limit VoLTE to any phone and I believe them, because every other phone I have tried (Even a lowly Redmi note 3) supported it.

I tried that carrier settings stuff, it just refreshes the APN, doesn't enable VoLTE.

 

[slyronit]

I can confirm that the unbranded variants don't support VoLTE. Someone tested in the UK with UK CV, no VoLTE. Flashed EE UK ROM, the option appeared. But that was for SIngle SIM.