Wifi-Calling on non-T-mobile branded plans? [US]

mjaiteh

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Feb 5, 2013
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Yes I understand that my title is slightly confusing, but I would like to know whether anyone has been able to get WiFi calling working on a phone plan like simple mobile(which I use), straight talk, or metro PCS, all of which run on the T-Mobile networks, and on T-Mobile locked devices. I'm asking because I heard that the 925's WiFi calling feature is strictly limited to T-Mobile only, which I find hard to believe because all the plans listed above run on T-Mobile networks. I conducted a little test of myself by asking a T-Mobile customer representative if my phone number would transfer over to T-Mobile if I switched, and she said that my number was already listed under T-mobile.... That seems to provide enough evidence, but I would like to make sure before I go out, and purchase a 925 for myself. I'm currently a college student living in a basement apartment, and I get little to no reception on my Lumia 810. I'd also like to upgrade because T-Mobile doesn't seem to be planning on delivering the Blue, or even Black updates in the future. There aren't any new Lumia's coming out for T-Mobile anytime soon, right?
 

Curtieson

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Could always get a Lumia 521 to test it out first...don't have to put up as much money to test out your theories, haha. But, I can't speak from experience so I'll let someone else chime in with that, but I'd expect it to not work, but a gut hunch. Can't find any answers through searching either.
 

waazzupppp

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No, even though the MVNO's technically run on T-Mo's network, that doesn't mean the features or network speeds work. Case in point, only 2 MVNO's are offering LTE at this moment - 35orLess and Simple Mobile. Also, none of them will activate tethering on the device for you. None of them offer short code SMS messaging, carrier billing or the my account features. Overall, the MVNO's only use T-Mobile's towers and that's about it. Wi-Fi calling works just like the other features that carriers offer, and for that you have to have a carrier account for it to be logged to.

That said, T-Mobile's own Monthly 4G plans do include the feature. The $50 plan is 500MB, the $60 plan is 2.5GB and the $70 plan is unlimited. Slightly less of a value than the Simple Mobile plan you are on, but you do get native LTE speeds on the $50 plan and can save a bit on taxes if you buy refills online.
 

mjaiteh

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Thanks for the detailed answer. I thought about switching to the $60 T-Mobile plan, but I'm not sure that I'm willing to spend the extra $20. If I do get the Lumia 925 I most likely will because I am in serious need of the wifi-calling feature. I'm still mulling it over though. You seem to be very knowledgeable on the subject, so i'd like to ask a few questions if you or anyone else doesn't mind answering them for me. My T-Mobile branded HTC Radar 4G was able to access T-mobile TV, and I was able to use the internet sharing feature. Eventually simple mobile caught on, and suspended my service several times, but why was it able to work in the first place? I've been unable to get tethering on my Lumia 810 but I am able to access some T-Mobile TV features. Where do these differences lie?
 

waazzupppp

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You can watch the "free" content as long as you are on the network - which being on T-Mobile towers you are. When it comes time to watch paid content, you need to have the feature added to your T-Mobile account.

You actually didn't get nailed for streaming T-Mo TV, Simple suspended you for the high data usage that T-Mo TV chewed through while you watched it. The top 5% of all users will usually get throttled or downgraded - and this was much more prevalent when the did their "unlimited" plans a while ago - but now with the actual published caps, it shouldn't happen as much. If you reload T-Mo TV on there and have access to some sort of data counter, you can see how much it uses. I had Data Sense on my 810, so you should be able to load that up, launch T-Mo TV and watch it for about 10 minutes. Check out the data usage that it pulls down! I just started ACC TV (I use Spot Mobile instead of Simple due to the service I get from them) but it's the same story...

I just installed it and watched for 2 minutes, my 925 used 20MB of data - so figure that is 10MB per minute - a 30 minute show is 300MB. Being on the $40 plan, you get 1GB of 4G with that (they used to say unlimited, but it was really 1.5 before throttling kicked in) you would blow through your monthly data allotment in 3 shows. It doesn't take much to throw yourself over those limits.
 

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