Wifi Calling

[lovepup_98]

I'm unable to enable wifi calling feature on my iPhone 6 Plus purchased through Apple. It tells me to contact my carrier to enable the feature on my account. Even though I meet all the requirements, Rogers technical support tells me the wifi calling feature will only work with iPhones purchased through Rogers. Is this correct? All people with iPhones should have access to the same features regardless of where we buy the phones!

***Edited Labels***

[Meowmix]

Hello @Caleb_Nunn1989

Have you followed the steps in order to active it? Also do you have Rogers One number?

[inferno129]

its been over 4 days now, since early am on march 1 wifi calling has shut itself off & wont reenable. upon attemps to reenable it instantly pops up "to allow wifi calling on this account contact rogers". ive already called rogers, ive already afterwards been through live chat. a ticket is made already & im waiting for a text msg response from "senior technical support". other users are also having the same problem since the same time.

ive already done absolutely everything, hense being escalated, reset network settings, reset all settings, switch between 2g/3g/lte, tried multiple wifi networks, had my account/sim reprovisioned, soft restart phone, hard restart phone, remove sim/reinsert, use mobile data only, restore ios as new etc. this is on rogers' end & apparently no one knows. some users got kicked off wifi calling automatically, some still have it working. but if they turn it off then try to reenable it they too will probably be stuck with contact rogers error. its instant pop up & doesnt even get to the 911 address screen.

iphone 6

i had it working fine for months prior, nothing was done to the phone or my account & its already been confirmed i have no wifi calling blockers like one number etc.

[Jay_Starks]

Last thing you could do is buy a new sim card and called them back and try again with the new sim it might work... Had the exact same problem about 3 weeks to a month ago, changed my sim and it started working again. It might of been the sim it might not either, but at this point you have nothing to lose... 

[MikePagz]

I'd like to voice my frustration and dissatisfcation with Rogers right now.  I've been a long-term customer and never had an issue unitl now.  I'm unable to enable the wifi calling feature on my new iPhone 7 Plus purchased through Apple. It tells me to contact my carrier to enable the feature on my account. Even though I meet all the requirements, Rogers technical support agents tells me the wifi calling feature will only work with iPhones purchased through Rogers.  I find this extremely annoying I think anyone who is Rogers customer with iPhones should have access to the same features regardless of where we buy the phones!  I've also been told by a rep at Apple that Rogers limits LTE speeds on non-contract phones.  I really hope this isn't true and would like some answers from Rogers.

Thank you,

[nyk0n]

I had same issue when going from my 6+ to 6S+

They had to remove it and re-add it and I had to turn my phone off then back on and it worked for me. Try calling tech support they can help you out

[MikePagz]

Been through multiple troubleshooting sessions with various reps, where they tried this several times.  Then they said we can't guarentee support for wifi calling on non-rogers devices.

[nyk0n]

That makes no sense

There is no software or hardware differences between the two models other than Roger has locked ones

I'd ask for engineering to look into it. There is no reason it shouldn't work at all

And saying because it's not a Rogers device is a cop-out

[Meowmix]

Hello @nyk0n

Actually it's the truth. When the iPhone 6S came out, only Rogers branded devices could use WiFi Calling and VOLTE. A couple of people got it working for non Rogers branded devices but many couldn't as the software is still locked to Rogers if u think of it. WiFi Calling works on the Rogers network. So Rogers had control over thay.

[nyk0n]

Rogers controls the lock and unlock through Apple via carrier settings

Rogers does not control any software on the iPhone other than the carrier settings.

My unlocked 6Plus worked fine for most part

[Meowmix]

Hello @nyk0n

Any unlocked devices get software updates by the carriers as well. I have had many unlocked iPhones to know this. So the software carriers that get pushed out lock this feature. As i said many had this issue, go look back on the iPhone 6S reservation thread near the end, u will see i. T

[nyk0n]

So basically even though Rogers does control the carrier settings files they now look and see if it's a locked phone or not and send a specific carrier settings to locked (to Rogers) enabling wifi calling and a different one to unlocked phone purchased directly from Apple

If this is the case then that might be a good reason for a lawsuit.

Rogers should not be cherry picking capable models of iPhones for features they support on whether or not it was purchased from Rogers or directly from Apple. That is anti competitive.

As there is no difference in the hardware that supports wifi calling, VoLTE and the fundamental operating system and it's support for the features between iPhones from Apple and from Rogers, sounds like Rogers is purposely locking out Apple Devices not bought through them.

[Meowmix]

Hello @nyk0n

If Apple allows it which is seems like it is, a lawsuit will fail as no where does it state that a carrier can not adjust anything from a unlocked device or lock their own software / network from working on a unlocked device.

Carriers around the world are known to do this. Is it right? No but they are allowed to. Look at Android for example. VVM that Apple has, Android has but Rogers has blocked it because they want their own to be used. If manufactures are okay with it, no one can do anything unfortunately.

[nyk0n]

Huge difference between android and iOS in terms of Visual voicemail

iOS has had it baked in since inception of iPhone. Androids was an app you downloaded

Android is also open source and heavily modified from manufacturer to manufacture and from carrier to carrier

This is why you will always be lucky buying a non pure android like Nexus to get one to two android updates if any.

iOS is 100% controller and deployed by Apple through its CDN to other CDN's via partnerships.

Carrier settings is a file controlled by carriers to pick and choose features on their network allowed or disallowed for a particular model of phone.

I can totally understand restricting new features like VoLTE to certain models (like 6S/6S+ to slowly stress test the network (even though 6/6+ supported it, it never launched)

But to restrict and Apple Purchased iPhone 7 and allow a Rogers purchased iPhone 7 which by all account software and hardware wise are identical, is actually kind of dirty and should not be allowed.

[gp-se]

Just to clarify:

-All iPhones have their software/firmware come directly from apple servers. Rogers has no control over this. 

-Carrier Settings also come from Apple Servers, however Apple and Rogers communicate on what settings are enabled/frequiences, etc. But it's still pushed by Apple Servers to all iPhones (locked or unlocked)

So if you have two iPhones, one bought from a Apple Store unlocked, and one purchased from a Roger store locked/on contract, both have identical software/firmware and identical carrier setting files. Rogers blocks WiFi calling and VoLTE using the IMEI of the phone on the Rogers Side of the network. 

The best way to get WiFi calling and VoLTE is to call Rogers and ask them to update your IMEI number on their account settings page, make sure they have the latest IMEI info for your current phone. Also on your WiFi Router make sure all VPN traffic is enabled, VoLTE/WiFi calling uses VPN to communicate to Rogers.

[nyk0n]

Awesome good to know. I was pretty darn sure they shouldn't be blocking it specifically because it was purchased from Apple.

[rrnsp4]

@MikePagz, have you been able to activate Wi-Fi calling on your Apple factory unlocked iPhone 7 Plus? I seem to be having the same problem 

[nyk0n]

Apparently the fix for this is to call Rogers and convince them to put the IMEI number on your phone in their database

[rrnsp4]

@nyk0n I called Tech Support, they added the IMEI number, but still no luck. My Wifi Calling turns on, but does show "Rogers Wi-Fi" 

[Klotar]

@rrnsp4 - that means you do have Wi-Fi Calling working.

On your status bar, next to your signal strength meter:

If it says "ROGERS" (upper case, no symbols), you are on cellular.

If it says "ROGERS V" (where "V" is the Wi-Fi indicator icon), you are on wi-fi.

If it says "Rogers Wi-Fi V" (where Rogers is NOT all caps, the word 'Wi-Fi' appears, and "V" is the Wi-Fi indicator icon), that means you are Wi-Fi Calling enabled and good to go.

 Or did I misunderstand what you were saying...?

[rrnsp4]

Sorry I missed typed my previous post. 

It should have said: "I called Tech Support, they added the IMEI number, but still no luck. My Wifi Calling turns on, but does NOT show "Rogers Wi-Fi" 

In terms of your question, @Klotar, My status bar shows: "ROGERS V" (where "V" is the Wi-Fi indicator icon)

Also, I've noticed through all these troubleshooting steps that even my VoLTE does not work eiter, "I have LTE- Voice/Data" enabled, and have LTE signal avalalble. A tech support rep mentioned that normally when wi-fi calling doesn't work, so doesn't VoLTE. 

[Klotar]

Ah, okay.

I have my LTE set to data only.  I think I read somewhere (sorry, no solid source) that if you are using Wi-Fi Calling, that VoLTE should be set to data only -- something to do with the handoffs (I know that's contrary to what support told you -- and I don't know if I'm mistaken).  I took that to mean we couldn't be set for both Wi-Fi Calling and VoLTE (voice & data).

Aside from that, the only other obstacles I can think of are IMEI (which you've gotten taken care of) and Rogers One Number.

Anyways, try toggling the LTE voice/data to just data, JUST to see if Wi-Fi Calling starts to work -- at least we will have narrowed it down if you haven't already tried.  Good luck!