If the T-Mobile Alcatel Fierce can support wifi calling and VoLTE why can't the 950xl

[Windows Central Question]

If the Alcatel Fierce from T-mobile can support wifi calling and VOLTE why can't the 950xl. Clearly the OS can support wifi calling and VoLTE since its baked in. Why doesn't the flagship get the update first?

 

[Laura Knotek]

The Alcatel Fierce is branded to T-mobile, but the 950XL is unbranded. Devices that are not carrier branded tend to lack support for carrier specific features. This is true of many Android devices as well.

 

[Alex Zapata]

More than likely it was a decision by MS. While non-carrier branded devices tend to not have it, the current lot of iPhones, the nexus line, and the BlackBerry Priv all support it out of the box.

 

[tale 85]

I don't think it's something Microsoft is in control of. But then again... My T-Mobile 640 with 10586.107 only gets Wi-Fi Calling sporadically. From what I understand it the way it boots. Beyond that...T-Mobile and Microsoft need to start talking more. Since they both claim to be "Consumer Driven".

 

[Zulfigar]

Carrier-Exclusive features need a Carrier-Specific firmware to work. That's why the 950 on AT&T hasn't gotten the firmware that's been available for a couple months now.

It's not really a phone-specific problem, just a way for carriers to get your money by locking down some of their features.

 

[Alex Zapata]

The two above posts are indeed correct to an extent. While many carrier-exclusive features do require carrier approval the manufacturer still has to build it in.

 

[RumoredNow]

T-Mo Firmware.

 

[Alex Zapata]

Add another unlocked device that supports TMO WiFi calling and VoLTE

http://www.tmonews.com/2016/04/unlo...h-t-mobile-including-volte-and-wi-fi-calling/

 

[Guytronic]

Add another unlocked device that supports TMO WiFi calling and VoLTE

$700.00 USD
Ouch...

 

[midnightfrolic]

I just use Skype or Viber for WiFi calling. I don't wanna pay carriers more than I need to. But then again I have unlimited everything from tmobile

 

[PGrey]

None of the aforementioned BYOD Android models require TMobile firmware, the feature just "works", once they enabled it.
I'm similarly irritated by AT&T, and my lack of VoLTE (the 950 has their cheesy HDVoice implementation), and what I suspect will be my lack of WiFi calling, once they enable it for the 950 as well.
Strangely enough, if you bring that same Android phone to AT&T, they'll make a claim about "firmware" or similar, even though they sell the same phone.

Carriers are hiding behind the firmware obscurity, hoping users will buy it, while they try to sell branded phones, at significant profit, for as long as will be tolerated by the marketplace.

I've looked at my share of firmware code, and while I can see where this might block these features, if not supported/enabled, it's really difficult to surmise how it would block it on implemented phones. The 950XL had WiFi calling on EE, in Europe, but I think they've since disabled it (I believe they're selling the phone now), for unbranded models. Interesting how the firmware "conveniently" prevents the feature, where it was working, just fine, last week, hmm...

If anyone wants to point to concrete, traceable/debug-able scenarios, that support the firmware issue, I'm all ears. Reading it off a random other forum doesn't count, unless the actual code or similar is documented ;-]

 

[Alex Zapata]

Originally posted by PGrey
None of the aforementioned BYOD Android models require TMobile firmware, the feature just "works", once they enabled it.
I'm similarly irritated by AT&T, and my lack of VoLTE (the 950 has their cheesy HDVoice implementation), and what I suspect will be my lack of WiFi calling, once they enable it for the 950 as well.
Strangely enough, if you bring that same Android phone to AT&T, they'll make a claim about "firmware" or similar, even though they sell the same phone.

Carriers are hiding behind the firmware obscurity, hoping users will buy it, while they try to sell branded phones, at significant profit, for as long as will be tolerated by the marketplace.

I've looked at my share of firmware code, and while I can see where this might block these features, if not supported/enabled, it's really difficult to surmise how it would block it on implemented phones. The 950XL had WiFi calling on EE, in Europe, but I think they've since disabled it (I believe they're selling the phone now), for unbranded models. Interesting how the firmware "conveniently" prevents the feature, where it was working, just fine, last week, hmm...

If anyone wants to point to concrete, traceable/debug-able scenarios, that support the firmware issue, I'm all ears. Reading it off a random other forum doesn't count, unless the actual code or similar is documented ;-]

It's not much, and the information might be out of date now, although carriers probably don't change these kinds of things that often, but this might provide some insight:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...d/1ea2a4b5-9b2d-46ad-a3ad-e160686766f4?page=7

Looks like Travis is one of the people at MS dealing with Wi-Fi calling on W10M. It could be that different implementations of the same feature would require custom firmware or a reshuffle in the W10M boot sequence? It's just speculation at this point though.

 

[PGrey]

I doubt it, given that single-SIM variants "just work" on some EU and other countries' carriers.

Dual-SIM is another story, I think MS still has never fixed the issue, similar the to the VVM dual-SIM one, that took quite awhile.
I think that because they don't plan on "negotiating" with any carriers over this, that they also have no plans to fix it, but that's purely supposition.

I know of one guy on AT&T (my carrier) who got this to work briefly, on a single-SIM, but putting the SIM first into a branded, known-working WiFi-calling-capable phone, and then back into his Win phone, where it worked for a very short period of time, before provisioning removed it.
I don't have screenshots but the poster seemed knowledgeable, and certain of the behavior. I've seen similar postings about non-branded Android phones, on the AT&T forums. AT&T tends to say it's "not certified" for their network, when in fact I'm pretty sure they mean "we want to sell as many phones ourselves, as possible, and in doing so we won't provision non-ATT-branded phones for certain features"...

 

[Alex Zapata]

It could very well be a combination of the two, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that MS doesn't really see it as a priority to work with the carriers and/or AT&T/other carriers being themselves. Still disappointing though.

 

[Cuong Ha2]

Wifi calling is enabled on my T-Mobile account. Now, the phone needs to add the feature like VVM.

 

[PGrey]

Wifi calling is enabled on my T-Mobile account. Now, the phone needs to add the feature like VVM.

Which phone, plan on T-Mobile?

VVM has worked on almost all carriers, since a fix awhile back, around April I'd say, you can find it in here, search on "VVM dual SIM".

 

[PGrey]

It could very well be a combination of the two, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that MS doesn't really see it as a priority to work with the carriers and/or AT&T/other carriers being themselves. Still disappointing though.

Either way, the customers (us), and the platform suffers. Things are already in a bit of a tailspin, having things be "de featured" isn't helping any...

 

[Alex Zapata]

I couldn't agree more............ :-/