WI-Fi calling on Samsung Galaxy S7 - missing menu - unlocking issue?

[John-H]

Hi,

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 (SM-G930T) originally T-Mobile (USA) with the latest update installed (Jan 16 2020) baseband: G930TUVSBCTA2. 

I've never been able to get Wi-Fi calling to work. The menu option for it does not even appear in Phone app > three dots top right > settings "Call settings" or "More settings". There's nothing in Settings app > "Connections" under "Wi-Fi" or "More connection settings" but I can confirm under "Mobile networks" Network mode is LTE/3G/2G (auto connect). 

The T-Mobile website confirms Wi-Fi calling should work as they support it and the phone has the latest software since they stopped supporting it but I don't have an account there.

I'm running the phone on EE and Wi-Fi calling is enabled on the EE network. EE customer services have tried to disable and enable it and I've turned the phone on and off, taken the SIM out, rebooted etc. even in SAFE mode. They confirmed the S7 should work for Wi-Fi calling but eventually gave up and gave me SAMSUNG's  phone number.

Samsung confirmed the S7 should work for Wi-Fi calling and that it makes no difference that it came from T-Mobile. They said it was under control of the network provider. I asked if it required a firmware re-flash but they said the Wi-Fi calling menu not even being visible was a sign that EE hadn't set it up properly. 

So, back to EE customer support elevated to level two. They again said all they could do was switch the feature off and on and suggested that if the menu did not appear it was the software on the phone at fault. I Told them what SAMSUNG said but they weren't aware of anything else they could try. They did say that they knew some phones didn't work despite them being supposed to support the feature.

So, back onto SAMSUNG. This time I was lucky enough to speak to someone who had an S7 Edge in their pocket. He confirmed that the S7 does support Wi-Fi calling but had a look on his and said, "Oh the menu is missing off mine too!". He went off to speak to a higher tech expert 

He came back with the answer that (I paraphrase) - as Wi-Fi calling is a network specific feature, if the phone is subsequently "unlocked" from the network (network lock removed) then the Wi-Fi calling feature can be lost and is not possible to restore. He said that if the phone was purchased "SIM free" (no network lock) then the Wi-Fi calling feature should always be there and just greyed out if not available.

It seems odd to me that the menu option should be completely missing in one circumstance and just greyed out in another.

I'm faced with upgrading the phone to get Wi-Fi calling to work now (phone is suffering from screen burn now anyway) and am thinking of getting an S10 possibly. Trouble is I've seen some "new" and "A1 refurbished" ones advertised as "UNLOCKED" and wonder if I'll just end up the same problem again! They might mean "SIM free" but who knows?

I have the option of looking for an EE branded "pristine" S10 but that cuts down my options.

Sorry about the long story but I thought it might either ring some bells and someone might know better that the advice I've been given so far and if not it might just help someone else with the same issue.

Thanks.

[XRaySpeX]

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@John-H wrote:

The T-Mobile website confirms Wi-Fi calling should work as they support it

But you are not running on the T-Mobile (USA) network but on the EE network. The support of WiFi Calling is network specific.

[John-H]

That what I said. 

So, are we to presume the T-Mobile version of Wi-Fi calling included some custom software on the handset that is removed by simply unlocking from a network? That it also makes the menu invisible?

How then does the "SIM free" SAMSUNG version have the menu visible when the network operator has not enabled it?

Why would T-Mobile write their own self deleting version when there was a generic SAMSUNG version already in the basic firmware?

[Chris_B]

@John-H  If I remember correctly the S7 needs EE branded android to have Wi-Fi calling.  Your device isn’t from EE so it doesn’t have that, if you used it on T-Mobile US it will bring that feature back as it’s T-Mobile US version on android on your device.  

You’ll need to flash EE branded android on it to get that feature. 

[wardi]

@John-H .. I had a Galaxy S7 Active which I bought in the UK but was originally a US model.  WiFi calling never worked on that phone.  After a few years it developed the famous Samsung on screen vertical pink line so I gave up on it.

I now have a refurbished S10 plus which is UK sourced and wifi calling definitely works on this phone.  Hope that helps.

[John-H]

Thanks. That may be what I'll end up doing. Trouble is the S10 sellers who have replied so far have confirmed their phones are unlocked and Wi-Fi calling isn't supported. Good job I asked!

I'm still mystified as to why the menu option should disappear just because the phone is unlocked. I don't believe removing the network lock should delete that part (or any part!) of the firmware. It's just a flag as far as I'm aware. That, if correct, must mean that the firmware sees the unlocked flag and reacts by hiding the Wi-Fi calling menu. 

So, just developing that thought a bit further, does that mean that if the phone is re-locked the menu should reappear? Can it be locked again this time to EE?

But why would the menu disappear anyway? It's almost suggestive of the firmware having been customised to a particular network, if unlocked, removes the option as it won't be compatible with another network.

But then how do "SIM free" or dual SIM phones work with Wi-Fi calling when they won't know what network they'll be operating on? That would imply the feature is generic and universally capable of working with any network after some parameters are set. If the network operator can simply set those parameters to enable Wi-Fi calling on a SIM free phone then why can't it do that on an unlocked phone?

There's something missing from this picture that I don't understand. 

[Chris_B]

@John-H  You have T-Mobile US branded Android on the device you are not using a T-Mobile US sim in the device. The device doesn’t recognise the EE sim so doesn’t show all features that are available to the original network.     The s7 always needed network branded Android to have this feature you device isn’t EE branded so don’t expect to have a feature that needs network branded Android 

s10 devices do not need network branded android on them.