Spark VoWiFi abroad

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cokemaster

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#3171007 12-Dec-2023 10:57

nztim:

...

Just bear in mind, calls on $8 per day roaming include calls to your destination country, however this does not apply when calls are made over VoWiFi as you are connected back to ONENZ and not a local carrier (found this out the hard way)

Yes - NZ Mobiles aren't as generous as Australian mobiles which often include international calling to 20-30 international destinations + usually all SMS destinations.

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johno1234

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#3171018 12-Dec-2023 11:13

Pocket wifi rental seems popular in Japan for tourists and only about $3.30/day unlimited 4G/LTE data . However not so useful when we're not all in the same place.

CNZ

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#3175904 27-Dec-2023 23:46

Was able to make this work using a consumer VPN too guess they want to cash in on roaming by banning VPNs

shk292

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#3189630 2-Feb-2024 13:13

deadlyllama:

It's aliiiiiiiiiive!

Using:

an eSim hotspot off Aliexpress
a cheap 128kbps yohomobile eSim that terminates everything in Singapore
eSim hotspot configured to use its built in wireguard client to connect to:
a wireguard server running on my router here in sunny Whanganui

...sometimes I can call my default test number (0800 28 28 28) and it goes over VoWifi.

Well, better than never, right? It's all very slow with the 128kbps limit and Singapore in the mix.

Nice work getting this going as a proof of concept!

I'm looking at options for this during an extended trip in a few months' time. I have an S23 and a UK SIM that gives me free roaming, but it looks like the VPN won't work from any phone-based WiFi.

@deadlyllama do you think the method above would work if I used a travel router configured with OpenWRT, and OpenVPN configured to use a commercial VPN terminating in NZ (eg ExpressVPN)? My home router doesn't have VPN capability. I usually use a travel router when it hotels etc, so having it provide a VPN to enable VoWiFi would be a real bonus.

deadlyllama

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#3189645 2-Feb-2024 13:59

shk292:

@deadlyllama do you think the method above would work if I used a travel router configured with OpenWRT, and OpenVPN configured to use a commercial VPN terminating in NZ (eg ExpressVPN)? My home router doesn't have VPN capability. I usually use a travel router when it hotels etc, so having it provide a VPN to enable VoWiFi would be a real bonus.

I'd expect so. You can always test it out in advance - it would work as well with an NZ SIM in the travel router, as a UK SIM. In fact, it would work as well with a router attached to your home Wifi/ethernet. The important bit is the VPN.

shk292

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#3189691 2-Feb-2024 16:23

deadlyllama:

I'd expect so. You can always test it out in advance - it would work as well with an NZ SIM in the travel router, as a UK SIM. In fact, it would work as well with a router attached to your home Wifi/ethernet. The important bit is the VPN.

Thanks, I'll give it a go. The travel router I have doesn't support VPNs but it can be re-flashed with OpenWRT so that's the first part of the job. I figure I can do a good test by using the UK SIM as a hotspot because the data will go back to the UK before VPNing to NZ

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