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Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

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

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

Spent a good part of the morning on my landline phone troubleshooting this issue with T-mobile. (Up front, I'm a Mac consultant & very tech savvy. I get paid to troubleshoot. lol)

Bought a new iPhone 5S yesterday from the T-mobile store, just so I could use WiFi calling, seeing how it won't work on any iPhone below that model. I found out the hard way. 😉

Came home. Put my iPhone 5S into recovery mode & clean installed iOS 8. Set up my device as new. Installed apps, music, etc. Put my old sim card from my iPhone 5 into the 5S, placed a few LTE calls, then turned on WiFi calling. Placed a few calls. Seemed everything as working okay. Proceeded to work on setting up all my apps, and get my phone back to "my normal". Around 2 AM I backed up my phone in iTunes. Went to bed.

Fast forward to today. Turn my iPhone 5S on. See it's still connected to WiFi Calling. Go about business. I get a Notification ... "You have voicemail." Okay. I return the call. No problem. Fifteen minutes later. Another voicemail Notification. Huh? My phone was right next to me, didn't hear it ring or vibrate. I checked that the phone was not on Silent Mode, the Silent switch was not on, not in Airplane mode etc etc.

Pick up my landline & call my cell. Goes direct to voicemail. Huh? I turn off WiFi altogether & call the iPhone. Straight to voicemail, even though I have a 4G signal. I go back into Settings & turn off the WiFi Calling switch, to be certain I didn't find some odd software bug. Call my iPhone again. Voicemail. My phone can no longer receive calls on 4G, or LTE even with 2 bars. It's all I've ever needed.

I call T-mobile from my landline. They check everything on their end. I'm provisioned properly. I pull my sim, read back the serial number on it. It's all good. The sim is also new enough for WiFi calling. The rep calls my iPhone, goes to voicemail. She asks me to reset my iPhone 5S COMPLETELY. Begrudgingly, I do. Once reset and generically configured, she calls me & the call comes through on 4G. WiFi is on and I am connected to my WiFi network but WiFi calling is off, and not yet configured.

I turn on WiFi Calling again. I call the rep from my iPhone 5S, no problem. She can not call me, she goes to my voicemail. I wipe & reset the phone AGAIN. Once I'm back at the Home screen, she calls me via 4G. I can call out. She escalates the ticket & says I'll get a call back on Sunday to see what they come up with. So I wait.

While waiting, I turn WiFi Calling on again. Same problem. I then take my sim out of the 5S & put it back into my 5 which was just wiped and generically set up. I wanted to see if it was a hardware issue. I put the sim in the 5, get a 4G signal & call my iPhone 5 from my landline. Direct to voicemail. So whatever info is sent to T-mobile over WiFi with WiFi calling enabled on the 5S, remains that way until the 5S is wiped and reconfigured.

I have since wiped the iPhone 5S, did the initial set up & let iTunes configure it from my last "my normal" backup. The phone is working fine now if I DON'T turn on WiFi Calling.

As it sits right now, I'm waiting for a call back to see what may be going on on T-mobile's end as they investigate.

I just posted this to see if anyone else had had similar problems. (Sorry if it's too detailed. lol)

BTW ... I will also send this same post to Apple too & see if I get a response. I've also decided to call Apple tech support too, since this is a NEW phone. I'll report back.

iPhone 5s, iOS 8, 16 GB Silver/White

Posted on Sep 18, 2014 12:42 PM

51 replies

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 24, 2014 12:43 PM in response to Joel Schmidt

Funny ... I was about to log in and post the same thing!

I heard back from the upper level T-mobile network engineer. She told me ... you have the wrong sim card. You need a 3GG card and you only have a 3G card. All phones to be used with WiFi Calling need sims to have GBA WiFi compatibility. She was surprised to hear my old sim worked for 2 days & then not. I went to a local T-mobile store yesterday got a new (what the sales person called a 4G) sim & another more knowledgeable guy next to him chimed in ... yes those ARE the 3GG / GBA WiFi sims you need. They activated it, told me to wait an hour or two before testing it. So by the time I got home a few hours had passed, fired up WiFi calling on my iPhone 5s & can now make calls & get incoming calls no problem. And it's still working today! Woo hoo!

I'm also able to text over my current WiFi router too, without the T-mobile branded modem. So it seems the new 3GG sim does indeed fix the issue.

Now I need to eMail the Apple tech who's been following and researching this for me. & let him know too. Wanted to wait a day or two before I did. Figure I'll wait until Friday to be certain, eMail him, then mark this tread answered too.

BTW ... did you put your old sim in the new iPhone 6 first & had the problem, or did you activate the one that came with the phone and had the problem? As a tech, I'm interested. Thanks! 🙂

Sep 24, 2014 1:22 PM in response to Joe Streno

Old sim. It had the same version number as my new one (60.0), so I doubt it'd have made a difference.

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 24, 2014 1:44 PM in response to Joel Schmidt

Thanks for the reply.

I wish I would have kept my old sim to compare to the new sim. Oh well ... it's working ... thats 'll that matters at this point. 🙂

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,292 points

Sep 24, 2014 2:57 PM in response to Joe Streno

So, maybe.... this is the solution to the iPhone 5 WiFi Calling problem also??? Clearly our iPhone 5's have older SIMs...

Gotta run over to the T-Mobile store and check it out: 3GG card or newer?

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 24, 2014 3:42 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

Michael ...

From what I understand Apple PULLED iPhone 5 support from iOS 8. But ... can't hurt to try. I noticed with my iPhone 5 there was no WiFi Calling section of the Phone preferences. It did not exist. That might change with a 3GG WiFi GBA Capable sim in it, but if Apple PULLED the functionality at the last minute for the iPhone 5, it shouldn't matter what sim is in the phone, iOS is looking at your model number to give proper functionality. But hey ... you never know. And if nothing happens, at least you have a 3GG sim for any newer iPhone you do get.

If you decide to get a 3GG sim for your iPhone 5, let us know the results either way.

Thanks! 🙂

Sep 24, 2014 7:55 PM in response to Joe Streno

Well, I just took a look at my replacement sim and it is also a 60.00 revision.

However, there is a part number of TM9252 on it. I unfortunately did not look to see if that was on my previous sim also. But according to a post over on reddit.com about iOS 8 beta 5, that is indeed one of the sims that does support wi-fi calling.

Joe, did you get this error message (To alow W-Fi calls on this account, contact your carrier.) after installing the new sim and trying to enable wi-fi calling?

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 24, 2014 10:12 PM in response to Joel Schmidt

When you enable WiFi Calling for the first time you MUST update your Emergency e911 Info, otherwise T-mobile WILL NOT let you use WiFi Calling (it's the law). If you don't have that info on file with T-mobile already, you can fill it out, or update your current info by clicking on the "Update Emergency Address" button just below the "Allow Wi-Fi Calls" toggle & filling out the info on the next screen. Once that's done, and saved, you should be able to use WiFi calling immediately or soon thereafter. And, no, I never got that error message, because my e911 info was on file and make as updated when I called T-mobile support. Hope that helps.

Sep 24, 2014 10:30 PM in response to Joe Streno

Actually, my information has been on file since November when I had an HTC One capable of wi-fi calling. This error message only occured after I clean-restored iOS8 to make sure nothing else was messed up and was resolved by a reboot (it had never happened when I was using my old sim). What is interesting is that someone reported that they called T-mobile and found that wi-fi calling was active on their account as a service causing a system conflict and had to be removed in order for it to work properly. Assuming that is correct, that would explain the error message.

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,292 points

Sep 25, 2014 2:39 PM in response to Joe Streno

IN the words of the plastic surgery crew in " The Eye of the Beholder" episode of "The Twilight Zone" - "No change! No change!"

COuld you do me a favor and post a screenshot of the menu that contains the WiFi Calling sub menu? Everyone posts the next screenshot - the nonexistent WiFi Calling submenu itself...

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 25, 2014 3:47 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

Michael ...

I'll do you one better. Here is the WiFi Calling menu and the page to turn it on and set your Emergency address. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,292 points

Sep 25, 2014 3:54 PM in response to Joe Streno

Sorry Joe, wrong screenshot. I want to see the menu just before this one. I do not want to see the menu I do not have; I want to see the differences in the menu I DO have.

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 25, 2014 4:04 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

The menu just before the is the Phone app prefs in Settings.

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 25, 2014 4:43 PM in response to Joe Streno

BTW ... also got my T-mobile "Personal CellSpot" WiFi Router yesterday. LOVE IT!!! It's a ASUS TM-AC1900 dual-band router. Has a very strong signal too. Pretty good for free! Guess T-mo wants everyone to have a good WiFi Calling experience.

Even though my iPhone worked fine with my old WiFi router (a Linksys from my ISP) this ASUS router is tweaked for WiFi calling. It's set to prioritize packets for both incoming & outgoing calls, so bandwidth is used for calls first to help keep call quality high even if others are using the Internet on other devices at the same time. And you can't beat FREE either! (Though for some there may be a $25.00 fee.)

So I'm happy all the way 'round. Took some investigation, but it is working. Now Apple and T-mobile need to train their customer support teams about needing the correct 3GG sims for WiFi Calling to work. Especially for those with older T-mobile phones, who will take older sims and pop them into a new WiFi Calling capable phone & go through the same issues.

MlchaelLAX

Level 4

2,292 points

Sep 25, 2014 5:32 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

MlchaelLAX wrote:

Sorry Joe, wrong screenshot. I want to see the menu just before this one. I do not want to see the menu I do not have; I want to see the differences in the menu I DO have.

Joe, my apologies, but both screenshots were not showing up when I looked on my iPhone. Now that I am on my Desktop, I can see that, indeed, you did post both, including the one I wanted: the Phone submenu showing the WiFi Calling activator at the top of the list, which of course, is missing from my iPhone 5!

My local T-Mobile office, where I went today to purchase a new SIM, insisted that I must go online or call to order the new router. Was that your experience?

Do the new routers support the installation of SIM cards, like my old Linksys model, which has two SIMs installed for the two other non-cellular phone lines I have from T-Mobile (or will I have to continue to use that router for that purpose and just turn off its wireless capabilities)?

Joe Streno Author

Level 1

41 points

Sep 25, 2014 5:46 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

Michael ...

Glad you could finally see both. Yes, I had to order my CellSpot Router via the phone while talking to the first T-mo tech I spoke to, though I'm sure you can do it from my.T-mobile too. Better to talk to a human, this way you can find out if they are still waving the $25.00 fee & giving free shipping. Never hurts to ask. 🙂

The Router itself needs nor takes any sim cards. It's just a regular ASUS WiFi Router that's been T-mobile branded. All the WiFi Calling functionality comes via iOS 8 on an enabled iPhone 5c, 5s and above. Otherwise just a regular modem custom tweaked by ASUS for T-mobile for WiFi Calling. Which also means it will work with any (dare I say) Android phone that supports T-mobile WiFi Calling. Other than that, it functions as any normal WiFi router.

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