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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

67 replies

Sep 18, 2014 7:28 PM in response to robroy90

If you can, disconnect your network entirely for a few minutes and simply put the wifi access point right after the modem so there is no firewall and see if it works. Easiest way to rule out the firewall or anything else on the network.

Leecm3

Level 1

4 points

Sep 19, 2014 9:42 PM in response to robroy90

I Am also having issues enabling wifi calling on two iphone 5C, I have three phones in the family all bought at the same time, I downloaded ios 8 at the same time. I turned on wifi calling the same way, one phone works the other two do not. We are all on the same network. At a loss here.... Updated emergency info on all three phones.

Clomer

Level 1

0 points

Sep 20, 2014 1:14 PM in response to robroy90

I'm having a similar problem. When I first installed IOS 8 on my 5s, Wifi calling worked fine. However, it only worked for the first day. Now, despite not changing any settings on either my phone or on my network, it no longer makes the wifi calling connection on my network or any other (I've tried it on 4 different wifi networks).

Has anyone made a successful wifi calling connection in the last, say, 24 hours? I'm wondering if the surge of new phones has overloaded T-Mobile's wifi calling servers.

In my case, it's not a big deal, because my regular cell signal strength is fine in my apartment, but I would like to fix this.

Sep 21, 2014 12:38 AM in response to robroy90

So here's my issue, similar to what others are saying.. maybe.

When iOS 8 was released I eagerly downloaded the upgrade so I could use Wi-Fi calling with my 5s (T-Mobile) and I connected to it successfully (it showed the Wi-Fi indicator at the top) and I did a test call and it worked great. BUT, it seems to drop off the Wi-Fi calling but NOT Wi-Fi itself. Sometimes I do a hard reset and sometimes even going into the phone settings and unchecking and rechecking the Wi-Fi option on/off will get it going again. Even weirder is that sometimes it will come back all on it's own. I use an AirPort base station and have no problems with AppleTV or any other device connectivity.

Anyone else seem to have that issue, or a possible solution? I'm in a bit of a dead zone (two bars if I am lucky, usually one or none) so I was really hoping this would work without any hiccups.

Again, ONLY the Wi-Fi calling indicator/ability vanishes, and it does NOT affect regular Wi-Fi at all.. yet seems to come and go on it's own.

Maybe Apple/T-Mobile is still ironing out the kinks as it seems like a lot of people have similar issues. If anyone can shed some light on this, that would be great.

Sep 21, 2014 9:19 AM in response to robroy90

MMy T-Mobile wifi calling comes and goes..when working I can make calls ...receiving calls are iffy...sometimes I get them other times they go to voice mail

Sep 21, 2014 3:25 PM in response to robroy90

I was having wifi issues after upgrading to iOS also. Resetting the network settings cleared up the problem for me.

dt845

Level 1

0 points

Sep 22, 2014 7:25 AM in response to muadibe2010

OK I had same issue. I upgraded to IOS 8 on IPhone 5S but Wifi calling was not working. At my work i do not get T-Mobile service and my IPhone 5S kept saying "No Service" even though WiFi was connected and WiFi calling was enabled. I read here someone mentioned about VoIP ports being blocked on WiFi. At work we have multiple WiFi hot spots. As soon as i connected to a different WiFi hot spot, it started working. As soon as i switch to the original WiFi hot-spot it stopped working. Both WiFi have strong signal so it was not the signal strength. I am pretty sure it has to do with ports being blocked. One WiFi Hot-spot is for employees and that is were WiFi Calling did not work. As soon as I switched to Guest WiFi at my work, WiFi calling started working.

Hopefully this helps someone.

robroy90 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 22, 2014 8:30 AM in response to dt845

^^^^^ PERFECT! That is EXACTLY the validation I was looking for. Speaking with Apple support has made no progress.

I tried to explain this to them myself, because I manage Cisco firewalls professionally. I had the IDENTICAL experience. A device that is more strict with security will not let the traffic pass. This explains why some (especially home) routers have no issue, but in a corporate environment (or a more advanced home wifi router) it will fail.

I can't seem to reach someone at Apple who either understands, or is willing to escalate this to the appropriate party within apple to document and disclose the ports that iOS WiFi calling uses. After speaking to "tier 2" on Saturday, they think I have a bad phone and want to replace it. I really hate playing along with dumb stuff like this to prove what I already know. I guess I will go to my Genius Bar appointment tomorrow and just keep moving at glacier speed until the purponderance of evidence shows what the issue is. I guess they have to have 30 people tell them the same thing first.

I just need a KB Doc from Apple that says you need the following TCP and UDP ports open, and permit ICMP traffic to x.x.x.x

Sep 22, 2014 9:32 AM in response to robroy90

Here's the (partially moronic) response of TMO support: http://support.t-mobile.com/thread/50725

Maybe the first half helps, because the second half is just absurd.

Sep 22, 2014 9:38 AM in response to dt845

APOLOGIES! I posted my comment in the wrong thread. My wifi issues are not related to wifi calling.

I had 4 speedtest apps all failing on the 5 GHZ frequency. There were no problems on 2.4 ghz. Resetting the network settings sorted that out.

With respect to wifi calling, I did notice on my 5S after upgrading, that a wifi calling option appeared under cellular. That has since disappeared.

when I look at my account, it says wifi calling will be added on 9/25. So I think for iPhones On TMO, wifi calling isn't quite ready.

Note: it's likely a carrier update which I applied, removed the wifi calling feature.

dt845

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2014 8:31 AM in response to robroy90

May be this might help as far as ports for IOS Wifi calling is concerned?

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12306176/asa-5505-adding-rules-permit -wifivoip-calling

dt845

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2014 8:33 AM in response to Prelude_007

WiFi calling ports?

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/12306176/asa-5505-adding-rules-permit -wifivoip-calling

robroy90 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 23, 2014 8:34 AM in response to dt845

Thanks, the funny thing is I posted that... 😉 I also haven't gotten a response yet though... 😟

Sep 23, 2014 8:51 AM in response to robroy90

FYI. The wifi calling option has been removed from both my iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 running iOS 8. I believe this was done with a carrier update from TMO.

Additionally, on my plan services, while I activated wifi calling when I upgraded online, it currently says this service will be activated on 9/25. So, I'm thinking wifi calling may not be turned on for iPhones on TMO until 9/25. If you still have the wifi calling toggle, have you applied a carrier update?

robroy90 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 23, 2014 8:58 AM in response to muadibe2010

Well isn't that interesting... I thought I saw a carrier update flash by on Saturday, but I didn't check to see if that switch in settings had been removed. I will have to check my wife's phone tonight. Ironically, we have a genius bar appointment tonight because the last time I spoke to Apple Support (Saturday) they were at a loss and scheduled my appointment to go in and swap the phone out. I guess now I will just get it inspected to get the Applecare Plus added to it (I have a feeling I am going to need it in the next 2 years at this pace) and the remote diagnostics app would not work last week (imagine that) to virtually inspect the phone so I wouldn't have to go to the store. I guess I am going to have to talk to T-Mo again now... Sheesh....

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