iOS 8: T-Mobile WiFi Calling on 5s issues

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Level 1

9 points

iOS 8: T-Mobile WiFi Calling on 5s issues

Is anyone out there having problems with WiFi calling w/ their iPhone on T-Mobile?

I updated my Wife's 5s to iOS 8, and enabled the feature in settings because we suffer from terrible calling performance on T-Mobile (1 maybe 2 bars of signal) in our home. She still drops calls regularly. I dropped a call three times while speaking with T-Mo support about it last night.

They told me that they had to provision the feature on the account, which they did a couple of days ago, but even after doing so, it still doesn't seem to be working. How can I tell if the iPhone is using WiFi on a call? Is there an option to force it to use WiFi for calls?

I have an (older, rectangle 2nd gen) Time Capsule in bridge mode that serves WiFi to the house, but I don't think it is the issue because other wireless devices work just fine and I have no other WiFi issues. Also, the other phones on our T-Mobile account are all Android phones that support WiFi calling and they all seem to be working flawlessly with WiFi calling and indicate when the phone is placing the call over WiFi.

So, aside from using a different WiFi base station (such as T-Mobile's new WiFi router - which I won't do unless it supports bridge mode because I have a much more robust Cisco firewall doing the routing) I can only conclude this is an Apple/T-Mobile issue with their implementation of WiFi calling.

Just wondered what other iOS 8 & T-Mobile users were seeing with WiFi calling.

Thanks in advance, any helpful info would be appreciated.

-Rob

Posted on Sep 18, 2014 7:31 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 18, 2014 7:39 AM in response to robroy90

What's the quality of your internet connection?

Please run speedtest.net and pingtest.net and post the results in your next reply.

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Answer 2

robroy90 Author

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Sep 18, 2014 7:49 AM in response to chattphotos

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Answer 3

Sep 18, 2014 8:47 AM in response to robroy90

Speed is pretty good, no bandwidth issues there.

What about pingtest.net?

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Answer 4

Sep 18, 2014 9:27 AM in response to robroy90

I'm having the same exact problem. All day yesterday i was searching for solutions on how to get it done but nothing seemed to work. I made sure my Carrier setting were updated and i even reinstalled IOS8 and it made no difference still. I think my final option is to go get a new sim card and see if thats the issue, but ill give it some time before i go that route because its just a hassle. Apple and T-Mobile should have tested this before letting it out though 😟

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Answer 5

Sep 18, 2014 9:58 AM in response to robroy90

Just to be sure you have enabled wifi calling:

Go to Settings --> Phone --> Wi-Fi Calls and be sure you have turned on wifi calling and updated your e911 address.

You can tell if wifi calling is active because on the top left of the screen next to the wifi logo it will have the words "Wi-Fi" (see picture below).

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Answer 6

Sep 18, 2014 10:11 AM in response to HofstraJet

I am having a same issue with iphone 5S and IOS 8.0. I was able to connect at home network but I can not get it connected at work for some reason. Work WiFi seems to be stronger.....I do not get any signal at work so i was excited to have this future with IOS 8.0 but not working... 😟 Help Apple/Tmobile !!!

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Answer 7

robroy90 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 18, 2014 10:30 AM in response to chattphotos

@chattphotos: I didn't try pingtest, but with all due respect, I don't see the point. A connection with a 10ms ping and 100 down and 4 up should PLENTY!

@Hofstrajet: My wife's phone shows the same as the screenshot you posted. It definitely says T-Mobile Wifi

@Prelude_007 When you say you can connect at home, does that mean you can somehow make WiFi calls there? How do you know the call is actually going over WiFi from home and not Cellular? What is your cell signal like at home? At your work, it might not work because they probably are more restrictive with what kinds of traffic they will allow. It could be that your IT staff have firewall rules preventing anything but web and email traffic to pass. I am sure this VoIP protocol uses some different ports, but I haven't seen the details on how it was implemented yet.

My thoughts at this moment is that either there is an issue in iOS that may or may not be limited to the 5s, or that T-Mobile still needs to do something on their end.

The only thing I have left to try on my end is a different WiFi access point. but given that my Samsung Note 3, my son's Note 3, and another Galaxy S5 all have NO PROBLEMS making/taking WiFi calls, it has to be an Apple <-> T-Mobile issue.

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Answer 8

Sep 18, 2014 10:38 AM in response to robroy90

Hi Rob,

Well at home I get decent signal and I was able to see the Tmobile WiFi sign at the top of the screen (as in the pic someone posted) but I am not sure if it's really making wifi calls. At work, I am getting no tmobile signal, Full wifi bar and no wifi calling sign...it just says No Services next to WiFi bar. I tried everything but it just not working.

I had no problem connecting galaxy s5 to the wifi call at work or at home, same locations.

Thanks,

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Answer 9

Sep 18, 2014 10:43 AM in response to robroy90

Just FYI - I am on a 5s and iOS 8.0 on TMO and wifi calling is working fine. Using various models of Asus routers around the house - all work fine.

And I have learned that for issues like this where I am pretty certain that the problem isn't me, such problems are likely widespread, especially on day one, and it isn't worth the time spent on the phone with TMO or Apple. Since so many others are likely having the same issue, I just let it go for a few days and it usually gets fixed.

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Answer 10

Sep 18, 2014 10:41 AM in response to HofstraJet

@HofstraJet - Have you tried at any other WiFi besides home? like at work? Mine seems to show Tmobile WiFi sign at home but nothing at work. It just says "No Service".

Thanks,

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Answer 11

Sep 18, 2014 10:48 AM in response to Prelude_007

Haven't been in the office yet.

One issue to be aware of: your office wifi routers may be configured to disallow wifi calling by blocking certain ports. The blocking may be by your employer or by the ISP itself. For example, I am on AT&T U-Verse at home. If I use the standard AT&T DNS servers, I cannot get wifi calling to work on my BlackBerry, though it works on my iphone. I have to manually change the DNS server to Google's (8.8.8.8) to get wifi calling to work. AT&T obviously doesn't want me using their internet bandwidth to make calls on TMO, though it is weird that it works on the iphone but not on the BlackBerry.

So, as a last ditch effort, go into wifi settings on your iphone and manually configure DNS to 8.8.8.8 and see if that changes anything.

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Answer 12

robroy90 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 18, 2014 10:56 AM in response to HofstraJet

Just as an FYI, I am already using Google DNS at home myself, as Charter's DNS is garbage.

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Answer 13

Sep 18, 2014 11:10 AM in response to HofstraJet

Well, it was already at 8.8.8.8 but without changing anything I was able to connect Galaxy S5 so why is it an issue with iPhone 5s? Still shows "No Service" It's either Apple or Tmobile that needs to fix it.

Thanks,

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Answer 14

exq0867

Level 1

0 points

Sep 18, 2014 1:26 PM in response to robroy90

I turned the WiFi calling after updating to IOS 8 and I got the "T-Mobile Wifi" network signal with no issue. However, it screwed up my incoming calls. That is, all incoming calls were immediately diverted to voice mail. Ultimately, I had to wipe the phone to get it to receiving incoming calls again. Luckily I had an iTunes backup so I was able to restore somewhat quickly.

I tried twice to turn the feature on with the same result, all incoming calls were blocked. Someone else had the same problem:

iOS 8 T-Mobile WiFi Calling iPhone 5S : Outgoing calls fine, incoming calls go directly to voicemail.

Anyone out there see this or figure out a solution yet? In the meantime, no wifi calling for me 😟

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Answer 15

robroy90 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 18, 2014 6:52 PM in response to exq0867

Here is the latest update I have:

I opened a case with Apple today, and they escalated this to engineering, I am to get a call tomorrow from them to collect more details, logs, etc.

I tried a new WiFi access point (in bridge mode - not acting as a router) tonight just to rule out the Time Capsule I had been using, but that had no effect.

The last thing I can think of is that (unlike Android) iOS WiFi calling requires specific TCP and UDP ports to be opened on a Firewall. I have an enterprise-grade ASA firewall, and it is rather strict on security and requires explicit statements to permit traffic on ports in the configuration of it. It will not allow devices on the LAN to dynamically open ports ala UPNP-style schemes used by your typical residential router.

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