Forum Discussion
Bought open box Samsung S20 5G & Wi-Fi Calling will not work
I bought a Samsung S20 5G (Model SM-G981W) from a re-seller in Toronto as an open box product. Everything works great except I don't have the option for enabling VoLTE under mobile networks in se...
Nighthawk
Community Power User
Community Power UserWifi calling requires VoLTE to be working.
https://www.telus.com/en/bc/support/article/wifi-calling-faq
Am I eligible for Wi-Fi Calling? You are eligible if you have an eligible device (see below) and an active
My TELUS subscription. Wi-Fi calling is not currently available for Prepaid as it requires VoLTE
for it to work, which is not yet available on Prepaid.
You bought a device that was originally not sold by Telus and therefore will not have the Telus rom/firmware and isn't registered to work for wifi calling. To get VoLTE working, you will need to call tech support again to see if it's possible. No idea if it'll be possible or not. iPhones are easier because there is one OS on them. Android has so many different roms based on each device manufacturer and each device, individual countries and individual providers. It's a mess.
That might have been the case when I first received the phone but you would think after flashing the device (with ODIN) with the latest Telus firmware for my phone would have taken care of that problem.
https://www.sammobile.com/samsung/galaxy-s20/firmware/SM-G981W/TLS/#SM-G981W
Also, my old Galaxy S7 was never purchased from Telus. I brought it over from Bell when I switch to a BYOD plan at Telus many years ago and it has a custom ROM (Floyd) of Android 10 on it. VoLTE and WiFi calling work fine on that phone.
- Nighthawk
Unfortunately you're still going to have to speak with tech support. You'll need VoLTE first before wifi calling according to the support page. Simply swapping the firmware won't magically fix the issue. They'll also need to register your phone on the network to access VoLTE if they haven't already.
I appreciate the input, unfortunately, I'm 0 for 3 with suggestions from technical support but I do feel like it's something that can be resolved if I manage to get the right Telus tech on the phone. Something like what you've suggested that they register my phone for their network which sounds similar to another thing I've read that in the SIM card status it says "IMS registration status = not registered" and possibly a tech can get that registered.
I found an android app called "Samsung Band Selection" which has a "More Network Settings" option and in there I select my sim card and see VoLTE is turned on. I read possibly newer phones have VoLTE enabled by default. Still no luck on enabling WiFi Calling.
I've sent an email to tech support explaining the issue in more depth, hopefully, I will have better luck with that than the conversations I've had on the phone.
