Unlocked Bell S7 and Roger's WiFi calling...

[A320B767]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can register for WiFi calling but under Phone settings there is no WiFi calling or Volte option.

Is it as simple as reset network settings or is it because of it being originally a Bell phone?

Thanks in advance...

[BS]

This unfortunately is a provider standard.  It was developing actively in the US too, but market pressure and more competition in that a few providers backed down has opened it up.

The only solution to this one, in particular as we moved to unlocked phones, is to contact the federal minister in charge of communications, and the CRTC to provide feedback on individual experience and input on the move to unlocked phones, in that providers have found a new strategy that puts hurdles into the customer choice to use an unlocked, or manufacturer purchased phone and have full access to the features provided by a company unless you purchase a company branded phone (i.e., the providers set up the features only on their branded phones, and don't even offer to provide access to these features at a cost).

One more way that providers hold us hostage to their own sold equipment, even though the same phone that works with their firmware will not work on another network.

Time will tell on this one, but as @Meowmix and so many others have pointed out, unfortunately, the providers basically have our hands tied on this one and it is a matter of buyer beware and be educated on limitations imposed not by manufacturers, but by providers.  Except for iPhone as Apple won't let providers touch the feature set of an iPhone - maybe manufacturers need to begin to start impose this too.  It would certainly make the company who does it first more competitive to those who want freedom to move our phones from one network and be able to receive feature sets that they all provide and the product provides for.

Oh well, life goes on.

For me, it hasn't been an issue - I don't use either one of those feature sets, and I do WIFI calling now to everyone I know using Facebook.  Does the job for me and yes I know I need to be in contact with someone who also has Facebook set up, but know different than the days of One Number for me, and many of the new features say from Android Messenger in terms of Rich communications is also limited by product, and whether another network supports it.

Things are definitely in transition and who knows where this will all settle out.  But definitely frustrating to learn that a feature you know is available on your phone, and is offered by the network, is not available to you because you didn't buy the phone from the network provider.

Bruce

[b-ry]

I was just checking today -- and see Rogers is now supporting WiFi Calling with the Pixel 2.

Is the Pixel 2 not the same regardless if its bought from Rogers or Google? Which means there should be no issue buying it from Google. And WiFi Calling will work.

[EhmTeeEhf]

Wifi Calling on the Rogers Network can work on unlocked devices. Its not only a firmware on that phone that has to support Wifi Calling and VoLTE, its also the hardware internally.

For example: I use an LG G7 Thin Q right from LG that works perfect with Rogers wifi calling, its not branded from Rogers. I had my IMEI added and confirmed on GSM Arena that it has the required hardware inside the phone that is compliant with the Rogers network infrastructure. It supports all of the Supported Frequencies that Rogers supports and it has the functionality in its Model / Revision that Rogers uses on their Network.

One thing a lot of people forget, Just because your device is a for example S8/S7/S7 EDGE, doesn't mean its guaranteed to work. Samsung Makes literally 15-20 revisions of each of these devices to work with certain carrier infrastructure in North America. Bell's network infrastructure is very different on the back end, compared to Rogers and Fido. Also I have seen the Bell versions of these phones have different components than the Telus version. It could be by design or it could be that it was requested to make people choose the parent Bell Brand, over the Telus brand and so forth. 

This is not knocking one carrier over the other. Its just the way their design requirements differ.

So in a nutshell. If you buy a device from Bell, and expect it to work on Rogers 100% well... You might find yourself with a feature that is not compliant with the Rogers Network. This is also Vice Versa.

If you want a good compliant device that out of the box would work on all of the Canadian carrier, I would do the research and go to GSM arena with the model number of your device. By this i don't mean "S7 edge" but the actual model number... This would tell you side by side what hardware is inside the phone. 

I have seen 2 S7 edges bough in the same year from the same carrier, and both have different revisions, internal hardware and functionality. Both had identical menus, both looked identical, but the antenna in one was a completely different one than the 2nd device, so you need to delve deeply when considering a device.

To get back to my example: My 2nd test was with a Razer Phone 2 directly from Razer in the US. I thought well this should work on the rogers network with wifi calling as the hardware was supported and the device supported the exact frequencies that rogers recommends for their VoWifi. It works perfectly. I use it daily without issues.

So with that said... I would suggest just because a phone says its going to work, doesn't mean it will. 

You have to give tech support the IMEI, if it comes up as Non Rogers Equipment, which in my case both devices do. That doesn't mean it will not work.  It just means it doesn't run the rogers firmware and there is a chance the device doesn't meet the compliancy of the Wifi Calling on the Rogers network.

Before you buy it, contact Rogers ask them to put the IMEI on your account and then make sure you have a sim that supports VoLTE and Wifi calling and set it up. If it works Awesome, if it doesn't well you know what you have to do.

I hope all this info helps!

Regards with respect

EhmTeeEhf

[Pauly]

I heard in many cases you may be able to get Wi-Fi calling (IMS Registration Successful) by changing the CSC code and / or making sure the IMEI is on your account.

For one, if your is Bell Branded, it may have Bell customizations on it, access points, and certificates that work with only Bell. Since your Rogers, you can find out how to Change the CSC code on your phone, but warning, be careful doing such. in some cases you might have to factory reset it to change the CSC, but in other cases you dont, so just be aware of the risks. once you change the CSC code back to Rogers, you now have Rogers customizations on your Samsung phone and some features that never worked before may start owrking, but yes you might have to make sure that the imei is on your account

[Eid]

So you basically, even though you still whitelist network against devices not bought from you, at least allow manually adding imei to profile. And it does not have to be iPhone lol... Success.
And it only took 4-5 years since launch of advanced features on network. That original uncompetitive business decision has cost you some customers, including me. Thing is once I was gone.... And didn't spontaneously combust...can't think of a good enough reason to come back.