Dealing with 2Degrees no-signal area in Birkenhead

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Dealing with 2Degrees no-signal area in Birkenhead

neb

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#281475 19-Feb-2021 22:44

Friend of mine lives in an area of Birkenhead that has essentially no cellphone signal from 2Degrees (her provider) or Vodafone, and barely any from Spark. Calling 2Degrees switches on a droid who asks her to record when there's an outage and the droid is unable to process the fact that it's all the time, there's no signal. The SureSignal has been discontinued and paying $1.5K-or-so for a CelFi to fix up the cellphone provider's lack of coverage isn't really an option... does anyone have any other ideas?

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#2660003 19-Feb-2021 22:47

WiFi Calling:

https://www.2degrees.nz/help/mobile-help/calling-features/wifi-calling

neb

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#2660007 19-Feb-2021 23:04

c0ld: WiFi Calling:

https://www.2degrees.nz/help/mobile-help/calling-features/wifi-calling

Well, that was easy! Thanks, will pass it on.

Linux

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#2660035 20-Feb-2021 06:30

Wi-Fi calling is an excellent service!

neb

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#2660127 20-Feb-2021 16:45

A followup question: In some parts of the house there's a very weak signal, an erratic single bar, and the phone tries to use that when it's available and doesn't flip to WiFi if you move to a different part of the house with no cell reception. Is there any way to tell the phone to prefer WiFi over cell? At the moment the procedure is, receive a call in an erratic-single-bar location, tell them to call back if the call actually holds up well enough to do this, move to a WiFi-only location, and then actually take the call.

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#2660128 20-Feb-2021 16:56

@neb The handset displays a handset beside the Wi-Fi signal when attached to Wi-Fi calling on Android

Get Wi-Fi signal good around the house and issue sorted

neb

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#2660130 20-Feb-2021 17:05

Linux:
Get Wi-Fi signal good around the house and issue sorted

The WiFi is good, the issue as reported to me is that as soon as there's any hint of a cell signal the phone will try and use that rather than the WiFi. In other words it's prioritising the poor-to-nonexistent cell signal over the strong WiFi signal.

c0ld

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#2660133 20-Feb-2021 17:10

WiFi Calling will always be prioritised over cellular unless WIFi signal is truly awful so something doesn't sound right.

Which device is it?

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#2660135 20-Feb-2021 17:13

neb:
Linux:

Get Wi-Fi signal good around the house and issue sorted

The WiFi is good, the issue as reported to me is that as soon as there's any hint of a cell signal the phone will try and use that rather than the WiFi. In other words it's prioritising the poor-to-nonexistent cell signal over the strong WiFi signal.

@neb Sorry misunderstood Wi-Fi calling will stay connected as long as Wi-Fi signal is present for the handset to stay connected to would not matter if you had a 2degrees site across the road

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#2660137 20-Feb-2021 17:19

c0ld: WiFi Calling will always be prioritised over cellular unless WIFi signal is truly awful so something doesn't sound right.

Which device is it?

Will have to get back to you on this one, I'll let you know...

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#2660138 20-Feb-2021 17:30

It's the same no matter what device as long as the handset is connected to Wi-Fi signal Wi-Fi calling is active and Wi-Fi calling is not just voice calls It's SMS and MMS as well

c0ld

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#2660142 20-Feb-2021 17:36

Yup asked for device type so we can check some settings (WiFi Calling on, nothing enabled like WiFi+ on Huawei which can force it to mobile data whilst disconnecting from WiFi in some scenarios). Varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

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#2660153 20-Feb-2021 18:30

We’re in a similar situation here with almost no cell coverage from any provider.
I’ve found that we have to put our phones into airplane mode and just have the wifi on for wifi calling.
Otherwise like you’ve mentioned the phones will try to connect to the tiny amount of signal they get sometimes in different parts of the house.
If you’re on a call at the time it does drop when the phone tries to connect to the cell signal.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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#2660752 21-Feb-2021 20:43

@neb How did you get on?

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#2660912 22-Feb-2021 08:09

CYaBro: We’re in a similar situation here with almost no cell coverage from any provider.
I’ve found that we have to put our phones into airplane mode and just have the wifi on for wifi calling.
Otherwise like you’ve mentioned the phones will try to connect to the tiny amount of signal they get sometimes in different parts of the house.
If you’re on a call at the time it does drop when the phone tries to connect to the cell signal.

Are these devices 2degrees-branded or parallel import / other carrier handsets?* As John said, the handset software should always use VoWifi for calling no matter how good the cellular signal outside is. They should only drop off VoWifi if the Wifi itself is proving too poor to maintain connection. If they were sold to you by 2degrees directly, consider logging a ticket with Care, and when you've done that let me know the details and I will make sure it is passed on to the handset team.

*iPhone excepted as it uses the carrier bundle for whatever SIM is currently loaded so it doesn't matter who you bought it from in the first place.

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These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

Mahon

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#2661003 22-Feb-2021 10:19

I also am in a similar situation with Wifi calling. I have to use it as I am in a cellular blackspot. It generally works well accept when some people call me they can hear me but I cant hear them. Its usually calls from businesses eg vet/doctor..assume its some kind of PABX they are on. I always call them back and its fine. Its only incoming calls.

This was the case on my iphone 7 and now on my iphone 12.

Haven't tried using airplane mode as I would probably forget to keep switching it on/off.

I have strong wifi and using a fritzbox 7490. Made several support calls over the past 2 years but never got anywhere.

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